The latest NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has unveiled significant growth for broadband providers Vocus and Aussie Broadband, as well as notable shifts in the Australian residential broadband market during the June 2023 quarter.
During the quarter, Vocus experienced remarkable growth, adding over 33,000 services to its portfolio, which boosted its market share to 7.9 percent. Similarly, Aussie Broadband expanded its customer base by over 28,000 services, resulting in a 7.5 percent market share. Smaller broadband providers also saw growth, with Superloop now holding a 3.1 percent market share and Southern Phone with 1.4 percent, the report said.
ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey commented on the sustained growth of these smaller broadband providers, emphasizing the ongoing demand for innovative and competitive services in the market.
However, larger players like Telstra and TPG experienced a decline in services, losing almost 76,000 customers combined during the June quarter. Telstra and TPG now hold 41.5 percent and 21.7 percent of the market, respectively, while Optus’ market share remained stable at 13.1 percent.
In terms of speed tiers, the 50 Mbps tier remained the most popular, capturing 44.2 percent of the market, despite a decrease of approximately 650,000 services in this category during the quarter. The decline in this tier was offset by an increase in the number of wholesale services for both the 25 Mbps and 100 Mbps speed tiers. This shift was driven by the expiration of short-term wholesale discounts for the 50 Mbps tier, prompting broadband providers to seek more cost-effective ways to deliver services.
The report also highlighted that nearly 55,000 premises were upgraded to higher capacity fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) services during the June quarter, while satellite services continued to decline, with approximately 4,500 services decreasing by 4.8 percent in the same period.
Additionally, the report indicated an increase in the average bandwidth supplied by NBN to wholesale access seekers. In the June quarter, it rose to 3.12 Mbps per user, compared to 3.01 Mbps in March 2023 and 2.84 Mbps in June 2022. This increase reflects retailers’ efforts to acquire more network capacity from NBN Co to meet consumer demand during peak hours, especially from 7 to 11 pm.