NBN Co extends 40 percent bandwidth offer for another three months

NBN Co has extended its 40 percent extra bandwidth offer to internet providers for another three months following sustained pressure from the industry.

Internet providers will now be able to access the extra bandwidth - in the form of CVC (connectivity virtual circuit) - at no extra cost until November 30.

The 40 percent additional capacity offer, which was introduced in March 2020 to meet the anticipated additional data demands of COVID-19, had been due to expire on September 19.

It was previously extended for two months in July, as well as by a month in both June and April, after it became clear providers would need more time to adjust to the increased usage.

Chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb said NBN Co's decision to extend the offer for another 10 weeks follows “feedback from internet retails over the past few weeks”.

In addition to the additional capacity, NBN Co will also further extend a number of other measures to assist customers and the industry.

This includes continuing to waive wholesale internet fees for qualifying low-income families with school-aged children until January next year, as reported by iTnews earlier this week.

NBN Co will similarly continue to double downloads for its standard Sky Muster satellite service to 90GB per month at no additional cost until November 30.

Whitcomb said the measures were designed to “make broadband even more affordable and accessible to low-income households”.

“We … recognise that many Australian households are under financial pressure, particularly low-income households,” Whitcomb said.

“Therefore, we are concentrating our efforts to help lower-income households continue to have access to affordable broadband services.”

He said that NBN Co has “invested heavily to support the industry through various measures such as the wholesale pricing and inclusion changes over the past nine months”.

It has also “maintained the offer of additional capacity for seven months to help internet providers adjust to changes in demand”, he added.