Anna Brakey (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission)
Smaller internet providers have continued gaining market share over the top-end of town, making up 14.9 per cent of the market for National Broadband Network (NBN) services as of the December 2022 quarter.
This is up from the September quarter, which previously grew to 14.2 per cent, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) latest NBN Wholesale Market Indicators Report.
Meanwhile, three of the big four telcos saw declines in market share over the four months to 31 December, with Telstra falling to 42.4 per cent, TPG to 22.4 per cent and Optus to 13.1 per cent. Meanwhile, Vocus’ market share was up to 7.2 per cent.
The ACCC said the rise of smaller providers over the big four telcos was a recurring trend throughout 2022, which saw the top-end decline by over 227,000 services. On the other hand, the smaller players collectively grew by nearly 363,000 services.
"This shift from the larger providers to smaller ones is helping to enable greater competition within the sector," said ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey.
The rise of smaller providers comes as residential services on the NBN declined for the first time in the December 2022 quarter, by 0.1 per cent, to approximately 8.7 million.
Additionally, the most popular speed tier, 50 Mbps, is on the decline, with services dropping by 1.4 per cent, or over 131,000 services, during the quarter. As such, it now makes up 53 per cent of all services.
Meanwhile, the second-most popular tier, 100 Mbps, rose by 2.2 per cent, or almost 190,000 services, making up over 13 per cent of all services.
The higher and lower ends of its offerings – the 250 Mbps and 12 Mbps tiers – also experienced declines, dropping by 54,000 and 28,000 to 1.3 per cent and 8.8 per cent, respectively.
"We continue to see consumers choosing higher speed products, but we urge them to carefully assess their needs before rushing into a decision to upgrade to a more expensive plan," Brakey added.
"Less expensive 25 Mbps speed plans allow households to access most online applications, including high-definition streaming applications, with retailers generally recommending their 100 Mbps speed tiers for households of at least five or six occupants, or those that have special requirements."
