Aussie Broadband pins unlimited 100/20Mbps plan as new NBN flagship

In the wake of National Broadband Network announcing its new pricing structure at the end of November, Aussie Broadband has unveiled a new set of residential plans.

The telco is introducing a 100/20Mbps tier for AU$10 less a month than the 100/40Mbps plan, which costs AU$100 for unlimited data; lowering the price of a static IP; and restoring a 12/1Mbps entry-level plan beginning at AU$40 each month for 100GB of data.

Aussie Broadband said it hopes the new 100/20Mbps tier will become the standard for residential customers.

"Ultimately, these new higher speed plans provide an alternative affordable option for customers who don't need to upload large files, documents, or videos," Aussie Broadband managing director Phil Britt said.

"Upload capacity is often more useful for small business owners like graphic designers or game designers, so we've kept it available in our small business plans."

The company is also dropping its slider plans, where new customers were able to choose the data inclusion on their plan. Any existing customers using the slide plans will be grandfathered however, it said.

Aussie Broadband is also replacing the upload speed on its 250Mbps plans, moving from 250/100Mbps to 250/25Mbps for customers who won the NBN lottery and received a fibre-to-the-premises connection. At the same time, the cost of those plans will be dropped from AU$250 a month to AU$170 a month.

The 250/100Mbps plan is still available for small business customers.

"We expect to launch other new products, including new routers and hosted softphones, in January," Britt said.

"Not surprisingly, we are also keen to offer 1Gbps plans in May when NBN introduces the product."

In its pricing changes announced last month, the company responsible for deploying the NBN added 1000/50Mbps, 250/25Mbps, and 100/20Mbps speed tiers and will allow retailers to pool unused CVC on a national basis. It also decided to add an allowance for TCP/IP headers above its layer 2 remit.

The wholesale cost of the new plans will be AU$80 per month with 5.75Mbps of included capacity for 1000/50Mbps, AU$68 per month with 4.75Mbps of included capacity on 250/25Mbps, and AU$58 per month for 3.75Mbps of included capacity on the 100/20 tier.

The included capacity would be bumped up by 0.5Mbps for all three plans in May 2021.

"In response to RSP, ACCC and industry calls for price reductions on entry level wholesale products, we introduced a modified 12/1 Entry Level Bundle on 1 October 2019," NBN residential chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb said at the time.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is currently looking into the affordability of 12/1Mbps NBN plans.

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