LABOR WELCOMES ACCC BROADBAND SPEED MONITORING REPORT

Labor welcomes the positive news contained in the ACCC’s first broadband speed monitoring report.

The findings that major retail providers are delivering over 80 per cent of maximum speed plans during busy hours is an encouraging development.

 

This report shows the ACCC’s monitoring, in conjunction with NBNCo’s wholesale pricing discounts, are combining to deliver the speeds consumers should have been receiving from the outset.

 

It was unnecessary for the speed congestion problem to have dragged out for so long.

 

ACCC evidence to the NBN Joint Standing Committee revealed the regulator proposed the broadband monitoring to the Turnbull Government in February 2016, yet Minister Fifield inexplicably sat on the proposal for 14 months.

 

Yet it took only 10 days after fierce media criticism for Minister Fifield to discover his in-tray and announce the ACCC would be given the funding it needed to proceed.

 

Despite the Turnbull Government’s incompetence and lack of authenticity, Labor is reassured by the ACCC’s consistent leadership on consumer issues.

 

The results in today’s report are a step in the right direction – however more needs to be done to deliver Australian consumers and businesses with the first-rate broadband experience they need to prosper and compete.