The Morrison Government welcomes NBN Co providing retail service providers (RSPs) additional bandwidth capacity at no extra cost to underpin network performance for Australians working at home.
To support productivity and connectivity in response to COVID-19 social distancing measures, NBN Co has cleared the way for RSPs to meet the changing needs of their customers. From Monday, RSPs will have access to up to 40 per cent more Connectivity Virtual Circuit (CVC) at no additional charge for at least three months. This applies to all NBN access technologies, including fixed wireless and Sky Muster satellite services.
These new measures take advantage of the flexibility in the NBN to account for changing data usage patterns, which are expected to result in higher traffic levels during the day and increased activity in the suburbs as compared to business districts.
Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said NBN Co has moved quickly to implement new arrangements to support the productivity and connectivity needs of Australians amid the necessary community response to COVID-19.
"The network has been accommodating increased traffic of five to six per cent in recent days. NBN Co is confident in its ability to continue to manage and optimise its network with the expectation that it will see further traffic increases, in line with changes seen in other countries such as Italy," Minister Fletcher said.
"NBN Co is proactively working with RSPs to manage network requirements, and is leading a dedicated industry working group of key telecommunication network carriers to maintain network performance.
"NBN Co has experience managing periods of high traffic, particularly during school holidays, and has in place processes to utilise latent capacity in the network to respond to changing network conditions together with RSPs."
