Infrastructure challenges don’t come much larger than providing a national digital backbone for Australia, but this has been the role of the national broadband network (NBN) for over 15 years. But despite identical underlying infrastructure, end-user broadband experiences are far from uniform, and depend a lot on the type of in-home gateway device through which users connect, research from Opensignal has found.
Run by NBN Co, which was established in 2009 by the Commonwealth of Australia as a government business enterprise to design, build and operate a wholesale broadband access network for Australia, the NBN uses a mix of technologies across its fixed and wireless access footprint. The target for the NBN is to enable up to 10 million premises, or up to 90% of homes and businesses, across Australia to access NBN Home Ultrafast (currently at 61%), offering wholesale download speeds of 500Mbps to near 1Gbps, by the end of 2025. An NBN fibre upgrade programme has been boosted by a $2.4bn investment from the Australian government.
The NBN’s fundamental aim is to deliver reliable, fast, resilient and secure broadband over the wholesale access network, working collaboratively with internet retailers to deliver the required customer experience, reduce cost, and drive efficiency and sustainability.
The Opensignal study looked at broadband consistency across Australian households to understand how experience varies depending on whether users rely on retail service provider (RSP)-supplied gateways or bring-your-own (BYO) equipment. It asked the fundamental question as to what differentiates one broadband provider from another in a shared infrastructure model.
The analyst believes this question is particularly relevant in Australia, where beyond traffic management and capacity provisioning, in-home equipment plays the next most important role.
Among the key findings in the study were that gateways issued by major RSPs Optus or Telstra outperform BYO alternatives, bringing more consistent broadband experiences when using RSP-issued gateways. In addition, Australian RSPs were deploying diverse in-home equipment strategies while fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) were driving demand for higher speed tiers.
Major Australian RSPs were found to be offering a variety of Wi-Fi 6 routers to their subscribers on NBN plans, while also giving new customers the option to bring their own devices to help minimise costs. However, the terms under which this occurs vary significantly across providers. Some providers offer higher-end routers subsidised over the course of a contract, while others may not offer them for free but provide options for new subscribers to purchase a compatible gateway.
Opensignal noted that Optus (AU$306) and Telstra (AU$288) were using high-end, own-branded routers with 4G backup to attract new customers and boost perceived service quality, and the analyst stressed that strong gains in consistent quality reflect this. Both RSPs used router branding to reinforce loyalty and in-home brand visibility.
The study also found that the share of FTTP in total wireline connections is growing across the board, as a result of ongoing infrastructural upgrades. It added that technologies which rely on older copper wiring for the final leg, like fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) or fibre-to-the-curb (FTTC), have been steadily losing their share in the overall NBN wireline footprint.
FTTP roll-out was driving more users to higher-speed fibre plans, spurred by growing demand and promotional offers. The 100Mbps and 250Mbps tiers are rising in popularity, while 50Mbps and 12Mbps plans are declining in use.
Opensignal suggested this trend may accelerate the NBN’s planned September 2025 upgrades when services based on FTTP and hybrid fibre coaxial connections will jump to 500Mbps and 750Mbps.
