iiNet leads the way on NBN fibre pricing

By Brett Winterford on Mar 15, 2010 2:26 PM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Primus, iiNet and Internode sign up as Tassie's first NBN ISPs.


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Internet service provider iiNet has led the market to reveal prices for fibre to the home (FttH) services in Tasmania, despite not knowing the wholesale price to be charged by Tasmanian NBN Co.

Primus, iiNet and Internode were today officially announced as the first service providers that will provide retail services to stage one communities via a wholesale network agreement with Tasmania NBN Co (TNBN Co).

Whilst TNBN Co is yet to provide the ISPs with its wholesale pricing, iTnews understands that the Government-funded entity has provided ISP's with an estimate refined enough for iiNet to express its retail pricing with some level of confidence.

Steve Dalby, chief regulatory officer for iiNet told iTnews that subscribers to FttH services in Midway Point, Scottsdale and Smithtown would pay prices that are not materially different to prices advertised in an existing greenfield estate served by iiNet - the Alamanda Estate in Point Cook, Victoria.

iiNet's existing fibre pricing regime begins with a 25 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds, with a cap of 5 Gigabytes of data in each direction, for $49.95 per month, and its fastest plans (for 100 Mbps downloads and 5 Mbps uploads) at $129.95 per month for 60 GB of data consumption in each direction and $159.95 for 90 GB of data consumption.

Dalby said services delivered via TNBN Co are expected to be delivered within a similar price range to those offered by network builder Opticomm.

Opticomm rolled out fibre at both the Alamanda Estate and is in turn contracted to roll out the active network equipment, customer connections and Network Operation Centre (NOC) services for Phase One of TNBN Co's fibre network during the second half of 2010.

Primus, which also offers services at Point Cook via Opticomm, is yet to reveal pricing. Primus CEO Ravi Bhatia told iTnews that Primus was still in discussions to determine the cost of providing the service.

Similarly, a spokesman for Internode said the company was unsure if it would mirror its existing fibre pricing regime when offering services over Tasmania's NBN, given that the cost of transferring data between Tasmania and the mainland continues to be an issue. Internode said it would provide more pricing information closer to the launch.

Phil Smith, general manager at Opticomm told iTnews that Internode's current fibre pricing should be considered "a good guideline" for what Internode will offer in Tasmania.

24 comments in this discussion

"I think you'll find the iPrimus has released REAL pricing for the NBN - not just Dalby's pretend "similar to existing plans" motherhood statement. Unlimited phone calls (inlcuding all GSM ..."

By Digger11

Tags

nbn, pricing, fibre, iinet, internode, primus, opticomm, ftth, tnbn co, national broadband network, greenfield

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Comments: 24

srhardy Mar 15, 2010 7:15 PM	Well then cancel my NBN subscription then & damit i will stay on copper! What crap value, no 'line' rental & still its data through an eye dropper but with a pipe that can flood you in seconds with debt. Its a BAD joke, where is the unlimited data offerings, no caps or at least realistic caps of say 100gb for the base plan... They are charging for a rollsroyce service but only giving you half a liter of fuel for it... That's a bad joke that's not even funny...
srhardy Mar 15, 2010 7:18 PM	iiNet, "If you exceed your quota, we just shape your speed to 64/128kbps", Plans as follows... Fibre 1 25 / 1 Mbps 5GB + 5GB $49.95 Fibre 2 25 / 1 Mbps 10GB + 10GB $59.95 Fibre 3 25 / 1 Mbps 30GB + 30GB $69.95 Fibre 4 50 / 2 Mbps 30GB + 30GB $89.95 Fibre 5 50 / 2 Mbps 50GB + 50GB $99.95 Fibre 6 100 / 5 Mbps 60GB + 60GB $129.95 Fibre 7 100 / 5 Mbps 90GB + 90GB $159.95
srhardy Mar 15, 2010 7:22 PM	On ADSL1 (8000/356 iiNet plan) i can do 20gb in a few hours off peak. At 100mb, thats 10mb/second so the bigest plan (90/90=180) is about 12 hours at full flood... then dialup speeds on broadband, come off it iinet - I love you but stuff it thats crap.
mad1k5 Mar 15, 2010 9:21 PM	What are you guys kidding, You can't expect NBN to be unlimited, Australia just unable to do that, at least anytime soon, at least the pricing is simular. Mike Quigley (NBN Co) said a little while ago that there would be caps. What you need to see is people are looking at pricing, not quota, that's why there is big move at the moment when people going to Wireless (also offering coverage - where competition or ADSL2+ doesn't exist). http://www.itwire.com/it-policy-news/government-tech-policy/28591-download-caps-likely-to-stay-nbn-co (sorry to link to another website) Not only that but when ISP's like iiNet and Internode offer freezone sections, you suddenly may not need unlimited anyway. Most of the issues are related to take-up rate, we need to get around that. There is no point in creating Unlimited FTTH plans, if they still going to cost a fortune, even 200GB+ plans are expensive on ADSL2+. I'm sure ISP's will upgrade plans in the near future, if anything they might do data blocks (like internode does currently).
HubertCumberdale Mar 15, 2010 9:26 PM	What is the point of these plans, they remind of something Telstra would offer, they wouldn't be so bad if they were symmetrical and didn't meter uploads but there is no value for money here and since this IS fibre there is no excuse for these plans to not be symmetrical. I currently pay $79.95 for 40gb peak and 120gb off peak on ADSL2+, I get about 13mbit not as fast as Fibre 4, which I guess is comparable but it is far better value for money. Conroy take your damn filter and shove it and do the same thing with this pathetic excuse of a NBN too.
mad1k5 Mar 15, 2010 10:50 PM	HubertCumberdale, I pay $129.95 per month for Home7 (90+90), for that, I get less than 3mbit down, less than 1mbit up. I'd be happy to pay either for Fibre6 (same price) or Fibre7(+$30). Don't forget, Internode are also going to be doing this as well(hopefully-closer to launch they said, but Phil from OptiComm said expect simular pricing), here is their pricing: http://www.internode.on.net/pdf/products/home-fibre-pricelist.pdf You note that even their pricing and quota is not much difference (in fact iiNet double because of off peak), and it gets more expensive as you increase the quota. Also, your comment of the "damn filter" is off topic at best, is your negative view of Conroy over the ISP Filter the reason you hate the pricing arrangements that ISP's are planning?
scan06disk Mar 15, 2010 10:50 PM	Then why don't you check out Internode's fiber plans ? http://www.internode.on.net/residential/broadband/fibre_to_the_home/plans/
Kookedgoose Mar 15, 2010 11:12 PM	It amazes me how many people still don't get it. The line speed doesn't matter. The fact is the average user (99%) of the population don't use more than 5gb a month or there abouts. It's the 1% who rape their connections trying to download the entire internet and then share it again via P2P. A 100GB base plan is just silly, most users don't need it, and those that do need it are going to use every single MB of it, and therefore can expect to have to pay for it.
greg27 Mar 15, 2010 11:34 PM	These prices aren't set in stone, people, and as more competition appears and more of the country gets fibre coverage prices will go down and data caps will go up. It may even be possible to unmetre all content within Australia and apply data limits only on international content.
HubertCumberdale Mar 16, 2010 12:09 AM	mad5k, $129.95 that sucks for you doesn't it? wouldn't you prefer to be paying $79.95? yeah I would too which is why I'll stick with the plan I'm on if these sorts of plans are the only ones they are thinking of offering when the NBN is complete. As for my other comment get over it, I can "hate" the filter and pricing arrangements at the same time hence the use of the word "too", tell me (don't tell me, I actually dont care) do you like these plans? you must enjoy getting ripped off.
mad1k5 Mar 16, 2010 1:23 AM	Kookedgoose, agreed. HubertCumberdale, It depends on my priority, but remember the days of ADSL, when that came about, we didn't have that much quota either (as was quiet expensive too), I'm willing to do simular on Fibre. Also note, that International Traffic is more expensive than local traffic, and that is where the costs lie. Until we get some more competition in Backhaul(local and international), pricing will be high. As per what Kookedgoose said, 99% of people don't use that much quota, (it's why wireless is enjoying the takeup rate now), If I wasn't living at home, and paying for my net, my parents would be on one of the cheapest plans right now. And referring to your comment about getting ripped off, no I don't believe that I am getting ripped off, Bigpond/Optus is what I call rip off), as being on the NBN would be getting a faster connection, no copper. This is article about NBN specifically, go whinge in a forum thread or something. You all whine about not getting extra speed, but then complain about pricing of when you do get the speed, you complain about it, I pay for quility service, quility helpdesk and so on, if I wanted cheap, I'd move to TPG. And actually Telstra Velocity has simular plans now and pricing (http://www.telstra.com.au/smartcommunity/assets/velocity-rate-card.pdf), not sure why the 200GB plans not on there yet.
chal Mar 16, 2010 1:39 AM	I get 22 megabits (actual speed) all the time with Node already, in Hobart. Why on Earth would I pay more for ~3 megabits more but far less quota? These prices have to come down, or quota needs to come up. Or both.
Wyseman Mar 16, 2010 7:28 AM	greg27: "as more competition appears" Isn't that the point, there will be no more competition, the wholesale prices are set by one company (NBN monopoly) and there will be no competition, just a whole bunch of companies who re-sell the same thing for the same price. The only difference between the providers will be the content they offer.
Desk Mar 16, 2010 10:23 AM	@ Wyseman "Isn't that the point, there will be no more competition, the wholesale prices are set by one company (NBN monopoly) and there will be no competition, just a whole bunch of companies who re-sell the same thing for the same price. The only difference between the providers will be the content they offer." There is competition in offshore backhaul (links between Australia and America where most of the internet is stored) which will decrease the cost the NBNCo will charge. Then there is a set price that NBNCo will charge, but there will obviously be a bit on the top that the ISP will charge... as the market get more aggressive they will be doing everything they can to lower their costs so that they can drop that margin (you know, like it is ATM if you change the word NBNCo to Telstra)
sputnik Mar 16, 2010 11:33 AM	I'd pay for 25Mbps because at the moment my home is so far from the exchange the maximum speed I can get on ADSL2+ is 4.5mbit. Many people get higher speeds but a lot of Australia is stuck on low speeds like me or good forbid, have to use 3G as there is no ADSL available at their location.
umbria Mar 16, 2010 12:17 PM	@chal, "I get 22 megabits (actual speed) all the time with Node already, in Hobart. Why on Earth would I pay more ..?" Not everyone lives 100m from an exchange. Hell, over 10 percent of Australian schools can't even get ADSL. It's always fun to watch early adopters paying too much for products that will halve in price within twelve months. NBNCo's target is $25/month wholesale, so I fully expect to see about double that retail for a data volume and speed that satisfies 80 percent of customers. That's a good value proposition when you don't need to pay for phone calls or copper line rental any more, before you even consider IPTV and general web use. I'm sitting on my hands and watching for a while.
Digger11 Mar 16, 2010 2:33 PM	iiNet has only "led the way" on allowing leechers to download copyright material. Nice PR stunt iiNet - they are not first with pricing, but have just waffled like usual to get some press coverage.
ivi Mar 16, 2010 8:57 PM	Maybe we should wait for TPG's next offer. With any luck, the folks are iiNet will be beaten by TPG's competitive pricing, thereby clearing the way for TPG's growth. I know iiNet may have legal costs to consider... but plan fees like what they seem to be bent on promoting for Tassies is not the way to cover them IMO. Tassies have been without fast Internet for a while now, and they deserve fairer plans than iiNet seems to be "leading" with. Go TRUMP 'em, TPG! Tassies shouldn't have to wait 12 months for fair pricing. Parity now. PS Maybe they'll find out about Global Warming, Electric Cars, the value in keeping their Old-Growth forests uncut, etc. - by greater access & use of fast Internet. It could do the Planet good. PPS: They could even get Better Place to include Tassie in the set of islands set to get 100% Electric Cars. They deserve green cars, fueled by renewable energy. Go get 'em BetterPlace.com !!! :-)
HubertCumberdale Mar 16, 2010 9:25 PM	chal is totally right, good to see Australia is not completely devoid of intelligence. Also this NBN could have been a good thing, I guess it still can in theory, the problem is the people running this ferris wheel will probably let it rust like they have with the current network.
Tim Mar 16, 2010 11:26 PM	Based on current wholesale rates and generous markup, the plan should be $100/mo should get you 100/100 and 300 gig transfer in both directions plus the taxes paid for the rollout.
Mordd Mar 17, 2010 5:12 PM	You know I have to say ABC's iView service unmetered on iiNet NBN connection would be a seriously awesome service, you would be talking load times of seconds, a truly on demand content service. Now all we need is other networks offering similar services with unmetered deals. Criticise iiNet all you like, but last time I checked they are still the only (or one of 2, i forget which) ISP in australia offering unmetered iView access for example.
Ace Mar 22, 2010 5:34 PM	I pay $39 a month for all my internet access and don't get to use even half the bandwidth I'm purchasing (7Gb + 14Gb off peak). I think me & family use about 4Gb in total a month. What the hell are you people doing to get through so much data? It's not those porn sites is it?
listohan May 31, 2010 11:03 AM	Can fibre handle the things naked can’t, like back to base alarms? Being able to forego line rental at last would allow more to be spent on the internet connection. Is iiNet covering the risk of a high NBN price by mandating these pathetic caps? The NBN savvy folk are not likely to be conned and iiNet just looks like an opportunistic preyer on the naive. Like Telstra.
Digger11 May 31, 2010 12:52 PM	I think you'll find the iPrimus has released REAL pricing for the NBN - not just Dalby's pretend "similar to existing plans" motherhood statement. Unlimited phone calls (inlcuding all GSM mobiles) and 20g for about $100 I think - sounds amazing to me. Can't wait for the NBN to replace Telstra - bring it on quickly.