Source: Australian Ministers for Regional Development
NBN Co’s fixed wireless and Starlink’s satellite networks are providing Australians living outside of the fixed-line network footprint with high speed alternatives, according to the ACCC’s latest Measuring Broadband Australia report.
The report, which compared broadband performance during March 2025, found that both networks can deliver download speeds above 100 Mbps during evening busy hour periods between 7 and 11 PM on weekdays.
Starlink services recorded an average busy hour download speed of 170.2 Mbps, while services on NBN Co’s new Fixed Wireless Home Fast and Fixed Wireless Superfast plans achieved median results of 166.2 and 283.5 Mbps, respectively.
“Australians who live in regional and remote areas and cannot access a fixed-line network rely on alternatives such as satellite and fixed wireless services to connect to the internet,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.
“The introduction of Starlink and upgrades to the NBN Fixed Wireless network have provided these consumers with access to faster speeds than before.”
While both networks were capable of high download performance, Starlink services delivered higher upload speeds, the report found.
The average busy hour upload speed observed on Starlink’s standard service was 29.2 Mbps. This result exceeded the individual upload performance of all monitored services on the Fixed Wireless Superfast plan, the fastest plan on the NBN Fixed Wireless network.
The average busy hour upload speed observed on the popular Fixed Wireless Plus plan was 11.2 Mbps.
Starlink services recorded lower averages for latency and loading times for popular websites, while NBN fixed wireless services recorded fewer outages and lower packet loss. However, the difference in average performance for these metrics is minimal and is unlikely to significantly impact the user’s overall experience.
“In addition to our performance data, we encourage consumers to consider the price of the service, including any hardware and installation costs, and their household’s broadband usage needs” Ms Brakey said.
Figure 1. Average busy hour speeds on Starlink and NBN Fixed Wireless plans
- Note: *Median average used for plans with smaller sample sizes.
Background
The ACCC welcomes the Federal Government’s announcement in the 2025-26 Federal Budget to continue funding the Measuring Broadband Australia program for a further 12 months until June 2026. The Federal Government has funded the ACCC to run a national broadband performance monitoring and reporting program from 2017-25.
The ACCC is seeking more volunteers for the extended program. To sign up, visit Measuring Broadband Australia.
Data for the Measuring Broadband Australia program is provided by UK-based firm SamKnows using methodology based on speed testing programs delivered in the UK, US, Canada and New Zealand.
Starlink operates a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites rapidly moving above the Earth’s surface. Starlink’s download and upload speed results do not include connections using Telstra’s Starlink service with plan speeds of 50/10 Mbps.
Latency measures the average time it takes to send a packet of data to the test server and back to the consumer’s connection. Lower latency results in faster responses, providing a more reliable experience when using real-time applications such as video conferencing and online gaming. High latency may result in a lag or delay.
Packet loss measures the percentage of packets that do not make it to their destination out of all packets sent during a test. Higher packet loss at levels above 1 per cent may be detrimental to user experience by causing lagging, reduced video quality or dropouts during real-time applications such as video streaming and video conferencing.