The consumer watchdog says 5G mobile technology could become a substitute for the National Broadband Network, on the same day NBN Co launched its new business-grade product.
The consumer watchdog says 5G mobile technology could become a substitute for the National Broadband Network, on the same day NBN Co launched its new business-grade product.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims said the rollout of 5G networks in Australia would have a significant impact on broadband markets, including the NBN.
“As 5G networks will be able to transport significantly more data traffic than previous mobile networks, it is anticipated that mobile broadband services may become more of a viable substitute for fixed broadband,” he said.
“This leads us to an interesting competition issue: what does 5G mean for the NBN?
“The NBN is a monopoly wholesale network, so we should strongly welcome it facing competition.
Mr Sims said critical to ensuring the 5G rollout was working for consumers’ benefit was making sure it was done in a way that promoted competition.
“We know that 5G is going to lower the cost of delivering data, but those changes will be accompanied by large capital and operating costs; operators will need to acquire new spectrum, densify their networks by building more mobile towers, and make sure their transmission can support delivery of new services,” he said.
“Competition will drive this investment.
“It can be the catalyst for innovation and can see operators build wider, better networks, to provide higher quality services.
“However, investment costs can be significant, and if we want to see more competitors in mobiles we need to think carefully about how to best achieve sustainable competition and minimise barriers to entry.”
Telstra launched its 5G mobile network in Perth last week.
Meanwhile, NBN Co today launched a new product which operates at symmetrical speeds of up to 1 gigabyte per second.
Enterprise Ethernet connections are designed to be built on request, and include a point-to-point fibre connection.
It will be packaged with a service-level agreement between NBN Co and retail providers to offer faster fault resolutions and to encourage retailers to offer an increased service experience.
“We are pleased to announce the launch of NBN Enterprise Ethernet, which equips us to better service all ends of the market along with our existing wholesale business-grade product suite,” chief customer officer business Paul Tyler said.
“This wholesale product has been developed with the specific needs of global enterprise and government organisations in mind. It is capable of delivering the service required by businesses that use data-intensive applications such enterprise network systems and cloud-based solutions.”
The company today also launched a trial of new premium business-grade appointments to help increase certainty of appointment times for businesses and reduce disruption to critical operations.
The appointments announcement comes after the ACCC launched an investigation last year into the standard of NBN’s wholesale service.
There are more than 450,000 businesses connected to services over the NBN.
