Significant revisions to the key industry guidance to mandate RSPs to disclose the upload performance of broadband services during periods of peak usage are now being considered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. 

In parallel to this, the ACCC is also considering expanded guidance on making claims about the performance of fixed wireless services. In this case, the increased significance of non-NBN infrastructure should be reflected.

The specific guidance of the ACCC in terms of making broadband performance claims was last updated in late 2020. This was in response to the increased availability and take-up of services with download speeds of more than 100Mbps.

According to a consultation paper that was released late last week by the commission, most RSPs do not expressly reveal the upload speeds of their products. In this case, the commission argued: “Information about upload speeds has become less transparent since 2020. At the same time, upload speeds information has become more important to consumers who rely on upload speeds to undertake activities at home that were previously done in the workplace and place of education.”

Still, according to the commission, the peak period for uploads may fall outside the 7 pm-11 pm “busy hours” for downloads covered in the current guidelines for RSPs. In this case, the revised guidance document could potentially recommend RSPs determine the four busiest hours for uploads on a particular network. These identified busiest hours can then be used as a basis for making speed claims.

“This would provide RSPs with discretion to tailor their claims according to the busiest upload periods recorded on their networks while being consistent with existing guidance on how to accurately test speeds,” the paper highlighted.

Meanwhile, the current guidance from the ACCC on making broadband speed claims for fixed wireless products is focused on NBN services. The guidance also notes potential performance impacts for end-users from congested cells and the distance from a tower.

In a consultation paper released by the commission, the rise of non-NBN alternatives may raise “other issues that may be relevant to the performance of fixed wireless services received by a consumer.”

Some of those issues include “service attributes such as availability or drop-outs, latency, the frequency band used, cell congestion, line of sight to a base station, interference, weather, location-specific factors, the use of external antennas, professional or self-installation, and the location and quality of Wi-Fi modems.”

The paper further adds: “Some of these issues are influenced by the network design and spectrum management arrangements of each network, which are commercial decisions for each network operator, and some of the issues are outside the control of a network operator or an RSP.”

As a result, the ACCC has suggested amending the guidance “to provide further assistance to RSPs on the best practice for disclosing to consumers the factors known, or ought reasonably to be known, that would affect the download or upload speeds received by an end-user.”