NBN draws new homes to ISPs—and prompts switching

The NBN is convincing more Australians to get fixed home broadband for the first time, Roy Morgan Research shows—and is triggering many others to switch internet provider.

By the end of 2016, over 1.2 million Australian homes were connected to the National Broadband Network (NBN). Eleven percent of these residential NBN customers didn’t have any fixed internet a year ago. Among non-NBN fixed broadband homes, only five percent connected for the first time in the last 12 months.  

The rate of switching is also much higher among NBN homes: 15 percent switched provider in the last 12 months, compared with nine percent of non-NBN homes.

Combined, a total of 26 percent of all NBN customers were up for grabs for internet service providers in 2016, either through switching or joining the market—almost double the rate in non-NBN homes.

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), July to December 2016, sample n = 6,994 Australians 14+

Michele Levine, CEO – Roy Morgan Research, says:

“The NBN is a major opportunity for internet service providers. It is expanding the market and spurring existing fixed broadband customers to reconsider their provider.

“Only a small number of NBN homes would already be switching between NBN providers. The vast majority of switchers are likely to have used the NBN connection as a catalyst for choosing a new provider. However with many new retail providers able to operate in the NBN market alongside established ISPs, it will be interesting to see if the increased competition will mean higher switching rates long-term.

“Roy Morgan’s geo-segmentation tool Helix Personas is ideally suited to monitor and forecast the take-up of the NBN, as well as deliver a more robust view of which providers are performing above and below expectations based on where it’s rolled out already—and will roll out over the coming months and years.“