NBN fixed wireless download speeds have improved significantly over the past year, the ACCC’s latest Measuring Broadband Australia quarterly report shows.
Speed of NBN fixed wireless in December 2021 was 93.4 percent of plan speed during all hours and 79.8 percent of plan speed during the busy hours of 7-11pm.

In December 2020, the speed of NBN fixed wireless was 78.5 percent and 68.4 percent, respectively.

The improvement in download speeds is due to a change NBN Co made in July 2021, which allowed a 15 percent over-provisioning allowance on the download component of NBN fixed wireless plans. Some retail providers have passed-on this change to their customers.

Upload speeds fell slightly from 52.2 percent of plan speed in busy hours in December 2020 to 48.9 percent of plan speed in December 2021.

Consumers on NBN Fixed Wireless Plus plans also achieved higher maximum speeds in December 2021, and some occasionally reached maximum speeds over 80 Mbps.

The boost in download speeds meant that in December 2021, 98 percent of Fixed Wireless Plus services could support five or more simultaneous high definition streams, compared to 81 percent of services in September 2021.

“Consumers on NBN’s fixed wireless networks are also benefiting from the improved download speeds that we have seen on the NBN fixed-line network,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.

Retail service providers’ download and upload speeds across NBN fixed-line networks during busy hours were between 95.1 and 103.3 percent of plan speed in December 2021.

Retail service providers also delivered the speeds that they advertised more often in December 2021 compared to September. Retail service providers met or exceeded their advertised speed claims in at least 88 percent of the December 2021 busy hours.

Internet provider Launtel in December 2021 achieved 98.4 percent of download plan speed during the busy evening hours, compared to an average of 97.4 percent across all major NBN plans and retail service providers.