For the first time in nbn’s history, more Australian premises are connected on fibre than on copper. NBN Co’s FY26 results (year to 30 June 2026) put 3.3 million premises on the fibre network — a 24% jump — after more than 575,000 copper-to-fibre upgrades in a single year.
If your Melbourne office — or a site anywhere in Australia — is still on Fibre to the Node (FTTN), that headline is not abstract. It is a prompt to check whether you can move to Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) and stop sharing the leftover copper with the rest of the street.
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The Fibre Shift Is Real
NBN Co’s Fibre Connect program hit its FY26 target of making 3.5 million FTTN customers eligible to order a full fibre upgrade. More than 1.38 million homes and businesses have already taken that upgrade. Copper still exists — NBN Co is working through the remaining FTTN footprint toward 2030 — but the default direction of travel is fibre.
Premises now on nbn fibre — more than copper, for the first time.
Copper-to-FTTP upgrades completed in FY26 alone, a 34% lift on the year before.
Business high-speed nbn plans, up from 33,000 the year before — a 300% jump.
FTTN vs FTTP: Why the Last Copper Stretch Hurts
On FTTN, fibre reaches a node in the street. The last stretch into your premises is still copper. Distance, old pits, and wet weather all chip away at speed. On FTTP, fibre comes all the way in. You get more consistent speeds, better uploads, and a path onto the faster business tiers.
| If you are on | What it feels like | Typical next step |
|---|---|---|
| FTTN | Speeds drop at peak, uploads feel slow, video calls stutter when the office is busy | Check FTTP eligibility and order an eligible fibre plan |
| FTTC | Better than node, still a copper lead-in | Many premises can now order a full fibre upgrade |
| FTTP | More stable day-to-day, access to higher wholesale speed tiers | Match the plan to how you actually work (cloud, backups, cameras) |
Business Fibre Plans Are Not Just a Faster Home Plan
nbn Business plans on FTTP include higher upload speeds than typical residential plans, plus a business-grade install path and faster wholesale fault restoration targets for your provider. That matters when the office cannot wait until “sometime Tuesday.”
Who should look now
Eligible FTTN and FTTC premises can upgrade to FTTP by ordering an eligible higher-speed plan through a participating provider. That applies across metro Melbourne and the rest of the nbn footprint — not just one suburb. If you run cloud accounting, Teams/Zoom all day, cameras, or send large files, the upgrade is usually about reliability and uploads — not a vanity gigabit number.
Upload Speed Is the Quiet Bottleneck
Download speed is what ISPs advertise. Upload speed is what your business feels when five people join a video call, a backup runs, or someone sends a 200 MB quote pack. Copper last-miles choke uploads first. Fibre does not.
Residential-shaped usage
Streaming, browsing, and one video call. A modest plan can look fine — until the afternoon when everyone is on at once.
Business-shaped usage
Concurrent calls, cloud apps, backups, POS, and guests on WiFi. You want headroom on the way out of the building, not just the way in.
What To Do This Week
- 1. Check the technology at your address. FTTN, FTTC, FTTP, HFC, or wireless — the right plan depends on what nbn can actually deliver there.
- 2. Ask if a fibre upgrade is orderable. Eligibility opened for millions of FTTN premises through Fibre Connect. A local provider can qualify the service rather than you guessing from a map.
- 3. Match the plan to the work, not the brochure. If you are already on FTTP, the question is whether you are on a residential-shaped plan with uploads that throttle the office.
- 4. Don’t ignore wireless. If fibre is delayed or the pit work is messy, a business-grade fixed wireless or PTP link can keep you moving while the upgrade lands.
Wondering If Your Address Can Upgrade?
We qualify nbn technology at your site — in Melbourne or anywhere we can serve in Australia — explain FTTP options in plain English, and get you onto a plan that matches how the office actually works.