top of page

Australia - NBN’s 2025 Multi‑Gig Upgrade: What Boards Must Change Before 14 September

  • Writer: Bridge Connect
    Bridge Connect
  • Sep 8, 2025
  • 4 min read

Executive summary

Australia’s broadband market will step up to multi‑gigabit tiers from 14 September 2025 on FTTP/HFC footprints. The winners will ship assured performance (latency, jitter, loss), not just “headline speeds”, and will replace legacy CPE that throttles throughput. Pricing power migrates to operators who bundle Wi‑Fi 7 / 10G‑LAN‑ready gateways, upgrade campaigns for FTTN/FTTC, and re‑baselined peering/NNI capacity. At the board level, the decision is binary: either treat multi‑gig as a premium utility with SLAs, or watch fixed‑mobile substitution nibble your high‑ARPU base wherever fibre isn’t upgraded.


What’s changing and why it matters

  • Date & scope. From 14 September 2025, NBN makes higher speed wholesale tiers and multi‑gig products available to participating retailers, prioritising FTTP and HFC footprints.


  • Tier architecture. Expect an “ultrafast” class (1–2 Gbps headline downlink) alongside uplifted 100 Mbps plans (commonly moving to ~500 Mbps on eligible FTTP/HFC).


  • In‑home reality check. A material share of households still use decade‑old gateways. These cap out at 100–300 Mbps (or less) and cannot deliver multi‑gig Wi‑Fi. Without Wi‑Fi 6/7 mesh and 2.5G/10G LAN, customers will “buy” speeds they can’t experience.


  • Wholesale economics. Capacity (CVC) fees have already been eliminated on 100 Mbps and above tiers under WBA5/SAU changes; operators must still dimension NNI and backhaul and understand new constructs like CVC‑Max where relevant.


Board implications: Your differentiation will be measured by experienced performance and upgrade friction, not just list speed or $/Mbps. That requires funding three parallel programmes: portfolio, premises, and platform.


Portfolio: products and pricing that make sense in a multi‑gig world


  1. Good–Better–Best with assurance baked in. Shift away from “best‑effort only”. For FTTP/HFC segments, offer:

    • Assured Home/Pro: latency/jitter targets in peak; premium install & Wi‑Fi survey; mesh included.

    • SMB Branch: SD‑WAN‑ready modem, static IP, underlay failover, proactive monitoring.

    • Creator/Prosumers: symmetric‑leaning uplifts (where available), 10G LAN, on‑site setup.


  2. Bundle logic. Lead with performance‑guaranteed Wi‑Fi (mesh, 10G WAN‑LAN, Ethernet backhaul), security (DNS filtering, endpoint bundle), and backup (5G/4G underlay with traffic shaping) to defend ARPU.


  3. Introductory pricing vs. lifetime value. Accept temporary compression at 250–1000 Mbps. Model LTV with churn reduction and support‑call deflection from better Wi‑Fi.


  4. Enterprise/Home‑office cross‑over. Codify “work‑from‑anywhere” packages—multi‑gig home circuits for execs and critical engineers with assurance and priority repair.


Premises: migration and CPE strategy


  1. Targeted FTTP upgrades. Run address‑level campaigns (FTTN/FTTC → FTTP) tied to a minimum speed plan. Make it one‑click for the customer; automate the back‑office workflow (provisioning + appointment + ONT power checks).


  2. CPE lifecycle. Fund a Wi‑Fi 7/10G gateway roadmap and swap‑outs for high‑value cohorts. Include mesh nodesfor multi‑storey homes. Ship pre‑provisioned SSIDs, QR onboarding, and a self‑optimisation app with spectrum analysis.


  3. Inside‑wiring and home surveys. Offer a paid or included survey for Ethernet backhaul to prevent “2 Gbps at the ONT, 200 Mbps at the sofa.”


  4. Accessibility and safety. Provide options for UPS at ONT/CPE, clear guidance on battery runtime, and proactive comms for medical‑priority customers.


Platform: capacity, peering and delivery


  1. Dimension the edges. Even with CVC removed on high tiers, you must expand NNI capacity, metro backhaul, and peering to absorb heavier evening peaks and local AI model downloads.


  2. Traffic engineering. Refresh QoS policies for latency‑sensitive flows (gaming, telepresence) and upstream shaping for Wi‑Fi backhaul contention.


  3. Content & cloud routing. Secure diverse peering and caches; negotiate with CDNs for localised delivery and predictable burst ceilings.


  4. Assurance tooling. Deploy agent‑based measurement (CPE telemetry) to separate access vs. Wi‑Fi vs. upstream bottlenecks; expose a customer “performance health” score in the app.


KPI pack for the board

  • Take‑up & mix: % on ≥500 Mbps; FTTP upgrade conversion rate; mesh attach rate.

  • Experienced performance: P95 latency/jitter at peak; Wi‑Fi throughput at five metres; % tickets resolved remotely.

  • Resilience: % lines with 4G/5G failover; Mean Time to Restore for premium tiers.

  • Economics: ARPU, churn, support cost per subscriber, truck‑roll rate, promo payback.


Risk register (and mitigations)

  • Expectation gap: Customers expect 2 Gbps everywhere. Mitigate: explicit “up to” plus in‑home optimisation visit; publish typical evening numbers.

  • Legacy CPE swamp: Old routers poison NPS. Mitigate: mandatory CPE refresh on premium tiers; easy finance.

  • Wholesale/Retail blame game: In‑home vs. network disputes. Mitigate: standardised test methodology and joint comms with RSPs.

  • Backhaul/peering shock: Inadequate upstream causes evening pain. Mitigate: staged capacity plan aligned to marketing cadence.

Communications plan

  • Launch minus 60 days: “Performance‑guaranteed Wi‑Fi” education; address‑level FTTP invites; executive‑home and SMB pilots.

  • Launch week: Portfolio switch; PR on measured‑performance guarantees; technician surge capacity.

  • Post‑launch 90 days: Publish independent benchmarks; case studies for SME/home‑office.


Board actions for this quarter

  1. Approve a two‑phase portfolio refresh (pre‑Sep / post‑Sep) with pricing tests locked.

  2. Fund a CPE+mesh swap for top‑decile ARPU segments and new‑to‑FTTP converts.

  3. Sign off on NNI/peering uplift and CDN negotiations.

  4. Mandate a Wi‑Fi assurance KPI in the monthly report.

  5. Direct the team to publish a “multi‑gig SLA scoreboard” each quarter (faults, latency, NPS).


Board conclusion

Treat 14 September as a hard deadline for an experience launch, not a speed‑test stunt. The operators who package assurance + Wi‑Fi + upgrades + resilience will own high‑value segments for the next cycle.

 
 
bottom of page