Millions of Australians are facing another hit to the hip pocket after major telcos announced a price hike for those on lower-speed NBN plans.
Telstra, Optus, Foxtel, and Aussie Broadband have announced a price increase for their 25 and 50mb/s plans, due to come in by the end of November.
Foxtel is passing on the biggest price increase at a whopping $10 a month, with Optus following closely behind at $6 a month.
Aussie Broadband has factored in an increase of $6 a month for its 12mb, 25mb and 50mb plans.
Telstra has settled on a $5 rise in price for its basic plan, the lowest of all major telcos.
TPG Telecom is yet to announce any pricing structure changes but told news.com.au that it would “keep customers informed” if that were to change.
The price rise is thanks to a new pricing agreement from the National Broadband Network, which will see a lowering of wholesale prices on all but one plan and changes to a key service cost.
The service cost – known as the CVC – will be removed from high-speed plans but still charged on speed tiers of 50mb/s and below.
All hope isn’t lost for the millions of Australians on low-speed plans, as the NBN has factored in a yearly reduction to the fee until its eventual removal on July 1 2026.
The NBN released a statement earlier this week which stood by its pricing agreement, saying the changes would benefit Australians in the long run.
It added that wholesale prices hadn’t increased in real terms for 10 years.
“NBN Co does not set retail prices; that is a matter for internet retailers,” a spokesperson said.
“However, with customers’ data demand effectively doubling every three years or so, the wholesale and retail price of broadband services would likely be a lot more expensive in the future if we did nothing and did not change the structure of our wholesale prices.”
(Sky News)
