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NBN Upgrade An Early 2025 Boost For Australian MSPs

The Australian government has announced a nearly $4 billion upgrade to fibre connectivity, which will unlock new opportunities for MSPs into 2025.

Written By

Matthew Sainsbury

Jan 17, 2025

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The Australian government’s latest $3.8 billion investment in NBN infrastructure presents significant opportunities for managed service providers and IT channel organizations as the network transitions away from copper-based connections by 2030.

FTTP connectivity expands to more premises

The upgrade, announced this week, will bring fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) connectivity to an additional 622,000 premises currently served by fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) technology. This will allow MSPs to expand their service offerings, target new market segments, and assist companies with employees working from home or accessing services from contractors.

With speeds of up to 1 Gbps becoming available to 94% of fixed-line premises, partners can develop and deliver more bandwidth-intensive services, including advanced cloud solutions, unified communications, and managed security services.

The upgrade addresses a critical infrastructure gap for MSPs focused on the small and medium business sector. The removal of copper-based FTTN connections will improve service reliability and reduce maintenance overhead, enabling providers to offer stronger SLAs to their clients. The government’s commitment to public ownership of NBN Co also suggests greater pricing stability for channel partners building long-term service contracts.

The government cited an Accenture forecast of a $10.4 billion GDP uplift over the next decade through this investment, indicating that it expects to see growing technology investment across the business sector. MSPs will see a significant cut of that activity by positioning themselves as agents of digital transformation, particularly in regional areas where 660,000 premises have already received upgraded connections.

The upgrade also addresses security concerns associated with aging copper infrastructure, allowing MSPs to provide more robust cybersecurity and business continuity solutions. With NBN Co’s additional $800 million investment in the project, channel partners can expect continued infrastructure improvements to support their service delivery.

Australian market headed for a surge across hardware and software

Australian MSPs should prepare for a busy year. From relatively mundane considerations, such as the upcoming end of support for Microsoft Windows 10 requiring even small businesses to look to device refresh, through to the increased penetration of AI and deepening cyber security requirements, businesses of all sizes, in all sectors, will be looking for support in modernising their use of technology.

The NBN will be another opportunity to broaden the conversations and present deeper service and solution opportunities.

The Australian channel is not just poised for partner growth in 2025. Read more about how shifting vendor dynamics will also impact the market this year.

Matthew Sainsbury

Matthew is a Sydney-based multi-disciplinary journalist that has covered IT for 15 years. . In particular, he covers B2B IT and other channel topics in the APAC region. In addition to Channel Insider, Matthew’s work has been published on ARN, where he previously served as the editor, as well as CRN and AFR. On the side, Matthew is an award-winning arts and entertainment critic and author, and he also participates on the judging panel for the Australian IT Journalism Awards.

NBN Upgrade An Early 2025 Boost For Australian MSPs

FTTP connectivity expands to more premises

Australian market headed for a surge across hardware and software

Matthew Sainsbury

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