If a new pricing model is approved, TPG Telecom forecasts that the cost of 50Mbps and 100Mbps services over the NBN could be equal within a year.
TPG Telecom claimed that one result of the current special access undertaking (SAU) pricing proposal will be the elimination of any price difference between the two tiers in a submission [pdf] made to the ACCC.
The 50/20 Mbps speed tier would see an immediate price rise under the SAU modification proposal, according to the telco.
In order to promote widespread 50Mbps adoption, the company previously priced 25Mbps and 50Mbps services equally.
Incentives like six months of free upgrades to higher speed tiers, or a form of “try-before-you-buy” offer, have been utilised more lately to entice people to leave lower speed levels.
However, given that some users have copper-based connections that are unable to reach these speeds, it still faces certain limitations in enabling this kind of widespread migration to 100Mbps.
The proposed SAU price increases “would result in major changes in the wholesale and retail broadband sectors,” according to TPG Telecom.
There “remain a lot of unknowns,” it continued, about how some components of the price plan will function.
In the previous week, NBN Co added to this by announcing that their pricing plan was a package deal, with price increases on the 50Mbps tier effectively subsidising higher service quality for users of 100Mbps+.
In an investigation into the restrictions placed on non-NBN operators for fixed-line infrastructure-based competition with NBN Co, TPG Telecom offered their convergence views.
