NBN price hike shock

Internode has become the first Internet Service Provider to disclose prices for internet and phone services delivered by the National Broadband Network (NBN). What will this mean for your hip pocket?

In a blog post, Internode has stated that the NBN’s promise that consumers will be able to access Broadband services for a comparable cost to what they are paying now is ‘untenable’ in their eyes.

Original estimates from Exetel (also onboard with the NBN) predicted that the average household would pay a bill of less than $20 per month. Internode’s recent price disclosure, with the cheapest available plan starting at $59.95 a month has caused outrage amongst consumers.

Internode has defended their decision, blaming the NBN for flaws in their charging model and warns regional communities that they may be charged significantly higher prices to city users. The Labor Government has stated that once other companies release their prices, healthy competition could bring the services down in price.  

Internode’s cheapest plan (at $59.95) is available at the slower speed of 12 megabits a second and must be purchased as a bundle which includes both home phone and internet. Downloads are limited to 30 gigabytes. As a comparison, Telstra currently offer a 50 gigabyte plan for $59.95. The most expensive broadband plan will supply 1 terabyte of downloads, at the top speed of 100 megabytes a second, with a whopping price tag of $190 a month.

So what does this mean for consumers?
For the NBN to be successful, a large percentage of internet users will be required to sign up to its services. Price is an important issue for most internet users and if accessing the NBN is going to be more costly than average ADSL plans, then many consumers will choose to stay with their current provider to save costs. Is the NBN really supplying ‘Broadband for all Australians’? And will other service providers bring Internode’s prices down? Time will tell.