The electorate of Canning will have access to a significantly more capable NBN network following a $480 million investment by the Morrison Government in the 2022-23 Federal Budget.

Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said the investment in NBN Co’s non-commercial fixed wireless network will significantly improve the quality of services being provided over the NBN fixed wireless and satellite networks.

“By using the latest 4G and 5G wireless technology, this upgrade will extend the coverage range from a tower, and allow higher speed services to everyone served by the tower,” said Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP.

“This means more people can be served by NBN fixed wireless; it means higher speed services on the NBN fixed wireless network; and it means higher amounts of data can be used by households and business customers. The upgrade will expand the fixed wireless footprint coverage by up to 50 per cent, enabling 120,000 additional premises to access fixed wireless services instead of Sky Muster satellite services,” Minister Fletcher said.

Federal Member for Canning, the Hon Andrew Hastie MP, said the investment in the NBN was a welcome decision by the Morrison Government.

“I’ve worked with residents from across Canning to help with their connection to the nbn. Fixed wireless or satellite are often the only options in our more regional areas. This investment will make a huge difference to the lives of people living across the Peel region, particularly in Murray, Waroona and Serpentine Jarrahdale. Over 10,000 premises in Canning will be better off. It’s a very significant investment in our region’s future,” Mr Hastie said.

“Having access to reliable and high speed internet will make a real difference for people across the Peel region, whether that be families connecting with loved ones, students doing online training, or business owners connecting with customers here and overseas.”

This upgrade will see NBN offer new higher speed services to the fixed wireless network: 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) to all 750,000 premises able to access the new, expanded coverage footprint, and a 250 Mbps service will be available to 85 per cent of premises.

It also means much higher actual speeds during the “network busy hour” – the time of day when the network is most heavily used, typically around 8:00 pm at night. The network design metric for the busy hour today is 6 Mbps; this will rise sharply following the upgrade, to 50 Mbps. This means customers will benefit even if they do not order a higher speed plan, as they will experience a sharp increase in the actual speed of their current plan.

This upgrade also means big benefits for NBN satellite users. Because some existing NBN satellite customers will move to fixed wireless, this will free up capacity on the satellite network. As a result, NBN Co will be able to offer an almost immediate increase in average data allowances for NBN Sky Muster satellite users. Average monthly data allowances for standard Sky Muster plans will increase to 55 Gigabytes (GB) in the short term, increasing to 90GB once the fixed wireless upgrade is complete in around two years’ time.

For more detail on NBN Co’s fixed wireless network, visit https://www.nbnco.com.au/learn/network-technology/fixed-wireless-explained