NBN Co doubles revenue to $2 billion with increased activations

NBN Co beat its own estimates as it inches closer to $2 billion for the year, off the back of increased activations and average revenue per user.

The network provider raked in $1.98 billion for the 12 months to 30 June, up 98 percent from $1.01 billion in 2017. It also beat its own estimate of $1.9 billion as laid out in its 2018-2021 corporate plan. The company expects revenue to reach $5.4 billion in 2021.

Growth was driven by a 65 percent increase in activations to 4 million, compared to last year’s 2.4 million. Average revenue per user also increased to $44, compared to last year’s $43. The network is now 70 percent complete, with another 5 percent completed today.

“The 2018 fiscal year has been an important one for the company, as we’ve balanced our commitment to get the network built as quickly as possible with our priority to help improve the service for those connected,” NBN Co chief executive Bill Morrow said.

“We listened to consumers and industry and put end-user customer experience at the heart of all management decision making. This resulted to some short-term delays in the build and activation schedule against our 2018-21 corporate plan, but we know the network is in better shape today than it was a year ago.”

He added that NBN Co’s customer service improvements are defining its success for the financial year, while user satisfaction is shifting. The company said overall user satisfaction rating increased 12 percent to 6.7 in July.

The company brought in new wholesale discount options and optimisation programs for both the HFC and fixed wireless networks in an effort to improve customer experience.

“We’re demonstrating continued progress against our goal to complete the build by 2020,” Morrow said.

“Today, we have 4.2 million activations on a network that is 75 percent built and with 99 per cent of premises in design, construction or complete.”

According to the ACCC's tenth quarterly wholesale market indicators report, NBN services on 50Mbps plans increased 47 percent in the quarter ending 30 June to nearly 1.5 million, compared to just 159,000 in December last year.