iiNet's NBN fibre customers use 60 percent more internet

ISP iiNet says its NBN fibre customers have set a "new norm" in internet usage that is 60 percent higher than its ADSL or Naked DSL customers.

NBN product manager Rachael McIntyre said that initially iiNet believed the increase in downloads, in particular, might just be a "blip" as customers took advantage of new levels of internet speed.

iiNet has over 12,000 fibre customers on the National Broadband Network.

"Initially we did think particularly on the download piece that it might be a bit of a blip, that customers were getting a lot faster speeds so they were initially using the service a lot more," McIntyre said at iiNet's annual open day late yesterday.

"We're talking in the region of 60 percent higher download and upload usage than we're seeing on customers' ADSL and Naked plans, and it hasn't been a blip, it's effectively the new norm."

Despite the indication of success for fibre deployment, iiNet's chief regulatory officer Steve Dalby said the company was "pragmatic" about any future change of direction at NBN Co.

"To me, [for] the highest level of performance, the standardisation and the ability for people developing applications to run over the online environment in the future, fibre to the home is the best solution. But we're pragmatic. We're realistic," he said.

"Does it matter to us in a practical sense [if the NBN is FTTH or fibre-to-the node]? Probably not. Does it matter to us as passionate internet people? Yes, we'd rather go with fibre-to-the-home, but if it's going to be fibre-to-the-node, we can cope with that too."

He believes in any event that technology decisions shouldn't be based solely on internet performance.

"It's a political decision, its an infrastructure decision. It's not about me as an internet user, [and] it shouldn't be focused on me as an internet user.

"It should be focused on the economy, jobs, exports and productivity".