Telstra had a total of 1,258,054 services in operation out of the total of 2,511,392.

The total services in operation by the end of the June quarter represented a 21% increase since the end of the March quarter, the ACCC said.

The other three big telcos — TPG, Optus and Vocus — provided access in that order. 

TPG had a total of 587,320 services in operation, which gave it about 23% of the market. It was the only retail service provider to figure in all technology categories – FttP, FttB, FttN, HFC, wireless and satellite.

Optus had 321,877 services in operation, giving it about 23% of the market while Vocus completed the top four with 200,623 services in operation and about 8% of the market.

Telstra, Optus and Vocus had no presence in the satellite market.

The report showed there were at least five access seeker groups acquiring wholesale services directly from NBN Co at 118 points of interconnection and six access seeker groups at 89 of the 121 POIs. 

The ACCC said this was a significant increase as smaller providers connected directly with NBN Co at the POI.

“As smaller operators achieve sufficient scale to directly connect with the NBN at a large number of POIs, they can better control the amount of CVC they allocate to their customers. This improves service levels for end-users and increases the competitiveness of the market,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said. 

“There are now over 20 access seekers directly connected to NBN Co’s network compared with 14 access seekers when the first report was produced in 2015.”

The report said the average CVC capacity acquired per user had increased by almost 10% during the quarter.

“CVC is an important component of how retailers provide enough capacity to deliver the speed of services they have sold to their customers, particularly during peak periods. The ACCC Broadband Performance Monitoring and Reporting programme will be monitoring whether consumers are receiving the speeds they have paid for,” Sims said.

The competition watchdog is talking to industry to determine whether more information about the amount of CVC capacity acquired and the use of that capacity by each access seeker group should be reported by NBN Co.

“The ACCC considers that further information in relation to CVC utilisation rates would assist the ACCC to monitor the development of competition over the NBN and enable it to perform its regulatory functions,” Sims said.

Main points of the report:

• NBN Co was supplying a total of 2,511,392 broadband wholesale access services, an increase of 440,269 since the last reporting period. This represents a 21 per cent increase on the March quarter.
• The total CVC capacity acquired by access seekers increased to 2820 gigabits per second (Gbps), up 36% from the 2149 Gbps last quarter.
• The average CVC capacity acquired per user has increased by almost 10 per cent during the quarter. This includes an average increase for each broadband service from around one Mbps to 1.09 Mbps.
• The most popular speed tier continues to be 25/5 Mbps.
• FttN and HFC wholesale access services continue to increase as a proportion of overall access services:
  • the number of services connected via FttN increased from 102,293 to 906,662 over the last 12 months;
  • the number of services connected via HFC increased from 14,551 to 153,371 in the same period.
• Telstra's competitors in regional areas were consistently maintaining higher market shares compared to traditional broadband services.