NBN Regulation Draft - Service Quality and Consumer Protections

Date

31 March 2026

Topics

Regulated infrastructure Telecommunications and internet Supporting more reliable internet services and ensuring investment in the NBN is prudent and efficient are key aspects of the ACCC’s draft determination on the regulatory settings for NBN Co to apply from 1 July 2026, released today.

“The NBN is essential infrastructure for households and businesses across Australia. Our draft determination is designed to protect consumers by enhancing service standards and ensuring NBN Co’s costs are efficient, while still allowing the company to invest and operate sustainably.” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

The draft determination outlines the ACCC’s preliminary views on NBN Co’s expenditure, revenue requirements, benchmark service standards and entry‑level broadband offers.

The draft determination follows extensive consultation with NBN Co and other stakeholders and closer regulatory scrutiny introduced under the variation to the Special Access Undertaking in late-2023.

The Special Access Undertaking (SAU) is a key piece of the framework regulating access to the NBN. It outlines certain rules and processes, including on the price and non-price terms on which NBN Co supplies services to internet providers.

The SAU   breaks up different regulatory periods applying to NBN Co into regulatory cycles of between 3 and 5 years, and there is a replacement module process for updating the regulatory settings that apply in each cycle.

This process allows for these regulatory settings to be updated so they can deliver on their intended purpose of promoting the long-term interests of end users. The current regulatory cycle will end on 30 June 2026.

“Our preliminary views reflect that we have seen improvements in some of NBN Co’s processes since the revised SAU commenced in 2023. However, more work is still required to ensure services meet consumer needs at an efficient cost.” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

Enhanced service standards to improve consumer experience

The ACCC’s draft determination proposes enhancements to NBN Co’s current benchmark service standards, following extensive consultation including a stakeholder forum in late 2025.

In February 2026, NBN Co made a detailed submission that substantially expanded on its original benchmark service standards proposal. The ACCC’s preliminary view is to adopt many of NBN Co’s proposals, while also proposing to introduce further enhancements beyond those put forward by NBN Co.

These include measures to reduce wait times for connections and fault resolutions, ensure NBN Co’s networks are delivering adequate speeds, and provide more notice to consumers when technician appointments are rescheduled.

The changes are particularly important for consumers on copper, fixed wireless and HFC services where existing standards have not adequately addressed service issues.

“Our proposed benchmark service standards are designed to facilitate a better experience for everyday NBN users, including reducing connection timeframes for consumers outside the cities,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We recognise that reliable broadband is essential, especially in regional, rural and remote communities, where consumers rely on their NBN connection to access services and participate fully in their community.”

The ACCC also proposes new benchmark service standards to help manage network capability to support retail speeds and address areas of the network prone to congestion.

Faster entry ‑ level broadband speeds

Retail plans on the 25/10 Mbps speed tier are proposed to become the entry‑level NBN product for most consumers from mid-2027. NBN Co has also committed to pricing these speed tiers in line with 25/5 Mbps speed tiers from 1 July 2026, effectively making them equal to the entry level offer.

These offers would apply to NBN networks other than satellite and reflect growing consumer demand for higher upload speeds to support modern usage, including uploading large files.

“By proposing 25/10 Mbps as the entry-level NBN plan, we’re recognising the growing need for faster upload speeds to be accessible to all Australians,” said Ms Cass-Gottlieb.

“Higher upload capacity should not be a premium feature, but a baseline expectation for NBN users to support current work and home internet use.”

Lower regulated costs and revenue requirements

NBN Co uses a building block model to calculate its regulated costs, which costs are referred to as the annual building block revenue requirement (ABBRR). This model looks at NBN Co’s expected costs, income, return on investment and the value of its network assets.

The ACCC’s preliminary view is to determine a lower ABBRR than NBN Co has proposed on the basis that some of NBN Co’s recent and forecast expenditure was not prudent or efficient, and that the weighted average cost of capital should be set lower.

The weighted average cost of capital measures the average cost a company incurs to finance its operations using debt and equity and is part of the calculation of the ABBRR.

The draft determination proposes:

• total forecast capital expenditure of $6.9 billion (real FY2024) for the 2027-29 regulatory cycle, about 18 per cent lower than NBN Co’s proposal
• total forecast operating expenditure of $7.89 billion (real FY2024) for the 2027-29 regulatory cycle, which is $5.1 million more than proposed
• inclusion of $10.4 billion (real FY2024) of capital expenditure in the regulated asset base for FY24-26, about 3 per cent lower than proposed
• preliminary weighted average cost of capital estimates of 6.49% for 2026-27, 6.52% for 2027-28 and 6.56% for 2028-29 Feedback on the draft determination

The ACCC invites submissions on this draft determination by 5pm on Tuesday, 28 April 2026.

Submissions can be sent via email to nbn@accc.gov.au.

Submissions will inform the ACCC’s final replacement module determination, expected to be delivered in June 2026.

Background

NBN Co’s services must be declared under Part XIC of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA). They are therefore subject to an access regime that has the objective of promoting the long-term interests of end users.

NBN Co’s current Special Access Undertaking (SAU) provides a long-term regulatory framework for regulating access to the NBN and the supply of NBN Co’s services. It has been in place since 2013 and is scheduled to operate until 2040.

The SAU specifies rules to determine maximum prices and benchmark service standards for those services, amongst other things. It also establishes processes for NBN Co to follow when developing or withdrawing products, and processes to provide transparency and certainty over future pricing intentions, and its cost accounting arrangements and financial performance more generally.

Due to its very long duration, the SAU contains a replacement module process to update certain settings in SAU modules. NBN Co lodged its replacement module application on 2 July 2025.

The ACCC’s draft replacement module determination follows extensive consultation with NBN Co and other stakeholders.

The ACCC is required to make its replacement module determination at least 20 business days before the last day of the current regulatory cycle (30 June 2026), unless extended.

Release number

27/26

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