NBN Co has appealed to the Australian Communications and Media Authority to give it a discount on expiring spectrum licences for its fixed wireless services.
ACMA handed down its final price ruling on the expiring licences last week, setting the total cost to mobile network and the national network builder at $7.32 billion – marginally lower than its preliminary finding last December of $7.34 billion.
However, in submissions published since the ruling was handed down, it’s been revealed that NBN Co requested a discounted fee to continue using the 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz bands it relies on to deliver fixed wireless broadband.
Its appeal substantially relied arguments that it operates its fixed wireless network at a loss for a public benefit and that the spectrum has no use that would deliver more a valuable return to consumers.
NBN Co said it acknowledged that ACMA had settled on using pricing benchmarks to promote the best long-term use of the spectrum and that public interest discounts have historically been the domain of ministerial discretion rather than regulators.
“However, the proposal to apply benchmarks-derived market pricing does not adequately reflect NBN Co’s loss-making and mandated use case and results in a price for our [expiring licenses] that is not a fair price,” the network operator said.
“No economically rational operator would pay market prices to renew [licences] only to lose money using that spectrum to supply a service on the terms that we are required to out [fixed wireless] product.”
NBN Co said that ACMA contradicted itself in acknowledging that it can identify no better use for the spectrum than delivering fixed wireless broadband to regional areas, while at the same time relying market pricing to promote efficient use.
“These two principles do not hold together in proposing to use market pricing for NBN Co [spectru, licences] which are required as a result of our mandated [statutory infrastructure provider] obligations,” NBN Co wrote.
Research that ACMA commissioned to economists Ian Martin Advisory examined NBN Co’s capacity and willingness to pay for the expiring licences.
The research revealed that, under ACMA’s price ruling, NBN Co was facing paying $491 million in fees to renew licences in the first half of the 2031 financial year.
NBN Co’s fixed wireless network currently has a reach of 800,000 premises with 400,000 services currently active.
The company recently upgraded the network and expanded the capacity as part of a $750 million program of work, with $480 million from the federal government and NBN Co kicking in the remaining $270 million.
NBN Co told ACMA that it operates its fixed wireless and satellite networks at a loss with write-downs estimated at $8.47 billion for the period from July 2009 and June 30 2025.
The company forecast that continuing to operate the networks would see it book a further $2.93 billion in losses for the period 2025-2026 out to 2039-2040.
NBN Co said that wireless and satellite divisions face further cost pressures as demand for data increases, requiring the company to invest more, including for the transition from geostationary to low earth orbit satellite products, which is expected to bring a step-change in capacity and latency improvements.
Overall, the economists acknowledged that the network builder’s free cashflow would remain in negative territory for at least the next three years, however said that NBN Co’s willingness to pay the $491 million licence fees was “not based on a return outlook through this period, but rather how it best meets the [fixed wireless] component of its non-commercial service obligations”.
It said that that while NBN fixed wireless and satellite capex had fallen substantially following completion of the fixed wireless and satellite upgrade program in December 2024, the network builder was still spending money on targeted upgrades to the service.
