NBN Co aims to resubmit proposal to change its rules, pricing in October

NBN Co has revealed it is looking to submit a new Special Access Undertaking (SAU) variation, or its proposal to update its rules and pricing, in October this year, after it was forced to withdraw its most recent proposal in late July.

The network builder was forced to withdraw its SAU variation proposal on 27 July after the federal government outlined a new set of expectations, including a timeline of early 2023 for agreement and implementation in July 2023.

In its FY2022 financial results released today, NBN Co said its decision to withdraw was in recognition that the proposal should reflect the changes in the policy landscape and operating environment since the current SAU variation was accepted in 2013.

“The company has engaged in further consultation with the government and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and is planning to release a new SAU Variation Discussion Paper later this week,” NBN Co said.

“NBN Co will participate in further consultation, chaired by the ACCC, later this month which will seek feedback and input from Retail Service Providers and consumer advocacy groups involved in the process. Following this consultation, NBN Co plans to submit a revised SAU Variation proposal in October 2022.”

In the financial results, NBN Co reported total revenue of $5.1 billion in the 12 months ended 30 June 2022, which was up 10 percent year over year, and EBITDA of $3.1 billion, up 130 percent year over year from $1.35 billion in FY2021.

Revenue from the business segment was up 20 percent year over year to $1 billion, while residential average revenue per user (ARPU) remained steady since the FY2022 half-year at $46, up from $45 at 30 June 2021.

The company credited the growth to the addition of some 316,000 residential and business premises to reach a total of more than 8.5 million premises at 30 June 2022, as well as a decrease of subscriber payments to Telstra and Optus from $1.2 billion in FY21 to $175 million in FY22.

Statutory net profit after tax also improved 62 percent year over year to $1.5 billion during the period, compared to a statutory loss of $3.8 billion in FY21.

“We have achieved our full year guidance targets but, more importantly, the network has continued to support Australians working, studying, shopping, staying connected to family and friends and accessing entertainment content from home,” NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue said.

“Our oversight and financial management of the business enables us to continue to invest in the network to deliver faster speeds and greater capacity across the network for the benefit of all customers.”

NBN Co also revealed an update on its ongoing network upgrade to fibre to the premises (FTTP), revealing that some 230,000 fibre to the node (FTTN) premises and around 380,000 fibre to the curb (FTTC) premises were able to upgrade to FTTP as of 30 June 2022. The network builder has also started design work to extend the Fibre Connect upgrade program to an additional 1.5 million premises, enabling a total of 9.7 million premises, or around 90 percent of the fixed line network.

“We are pleased with the progress we have made in upgrading our network and look forward to continuing to deliver on these upgrade programs on behalf of customers in coming years,” Rue said.

“We are also committed to collaborating with the industry to deliver great outcomes for customers and play our part to create a new commercial and regulatory framework.”