NBN Co has reported revenue of A$5.92bn for the year to 30 June 2026, up 3% as more of its customers now connect over fibre than over copper for the first time.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) rose by 5% to A$4.46bn, above the top of its guidance range. Operating expenses fell by 3% and capital expenditure by 13%, lifting free cash flow before financing activities by more than half.
Telecommunications revenue grew by 4% on higher-speed plan take-up and inflation-linked wholesale price rises under the special access undertaking, while business and enterprise revenue rose by 2%.
NBN Co completed more than 575,000 copper-to-fibre upgrades in the year, a third more than in financial year 2025, taking its fibre base to 3.3 million premises – 40% of the fixed-line footprint. It also met its target of making 3.5 million fibre-to-the-node customers eligible to upgrade to full fibre, on time and on budget.
“We are delivering on our strategy to create a fibre-led future for Australia,” said chief executive Ellie Sweeney, in her first full financial year at the company after joining from Vocus in December 2024. “This marked an inflection point, with more customers connected to fibre than copper for the first time in NBN’s history.”
Higher-speed tiers accounted for much of the company’s revenue growth. Under its Accelerate Great programme launched in September 2025, NBN Co lifted the speeds of its three fastest residential products on fibre and hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) connections without changing what retailers pay. As of 30 June, some 47% of services were on plans of 100Mbps or above, up from 32% a year earlier, and 37% were on 500Mbps or above, up from 4%.
Active premises – homes or businesses with an active NBN service – grew by roughly 21,000 across the whole network. With the NBN build essentially complete, growth now depends on what each customer pays, and the alternatives are multiplying. Optus and TPG, for example, sell 5G fixed wireless internet services that bypass the wholesale network entirely, while Starlink has taken share in regional areas where NBN Co’s satellite service has lagged.
Wholesale prices rose again on 1 July, and more steeply than a year earlier, an increase retailers may pass on to customers. In March, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission proposed tighter service standards than NBN Co had put forward for the regulatory cycle now under way.
The harder operational challenge for NBN Co is the copper that remains. Of the final 622,000 fibre-to-the-node premises, only around 90,000 could order an upgrade against a 2030 deadline for a programme backed by up to A$3bn in Commonwealth equity plus more than A$800m from NBN Co. And of the more than five million premises already eligible for a free upgrade, only a minority have taken it up.
In satellite, roughly 300,000 premises are earmarked for a low Earth orbit service powered by Amazon Leo, the constellation rebranded from Project Kuiper in November 2025. NBN Co is looking to transition some 78,000 customers on its legacy Sky Muster geostationary system to the new offering, which is still under development.
NBN Co’s balance sheet still carries the cost of its fibre network build. The statutory loss before tax narrowed 16% to A$811m, and free cash flow after financing remained negative, though it improved by A$505m from the last financial year. Net debt stood at A$27.5bn, with borrowing costs edging up as older, cheaper hedges matured.
Sweeney said the results “reflect continued demand for higher-speed broadband services, disciplined execution across the business and the long-term benefits of NBN’s ongoing investment in network capability, reliability and customer outcomes”.
“The FY26 momentum reflects NBN’s long-term strategy to unlock more value from this nation-building investment across fibre, HFC, fixed wireless and satellite, that will support Australia’s growing digital and AI needs for decades to come,” she added.
