Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has welcomed an announcement that new penalties will apply if NBN Co fails to meet customer service standards.

NBN Co (National Broadband Network Co) will be forced to pay rebates to retail service providers - such as Telstra, Optus and other providers - for poor connections, fault rectifications and missed appointments caused by NBN Co.

Mr Taylor said he would be pushing for these rebates to flow through as discounts for customers.

“It’s important that NBN customers, of which there are more than 40,000 in Hume, see the NBN being held to account for poor customer service,” Mr Taylor said.

“I urge the telcos to pass on any rebates from NBN as discounts to customers.”

Mr Taylor said penalties would be enforceable under section 87B of the Competition and Consumer Act, as part of a range of consumer safeguards being implemented.

NBN Co will also start publicly reporting rates of congestion on the fixed wireless network.

As a result of measures from the Coalition Government and NBN Co, congestion across the fixed line network has fallen from an average of around five hours a week in July 2017 to just 28 minutes a week, and more than 90 per cent of homes and businesses now have their equipment installed correctly the first time.

In the north of Hume, NBN take-up rates in areas that are Ready for Service are higher than elsewhere:

Mount Annan 90.7%

Camden Park, Camden South 87.9%

Cobbitty 83.9%

Spring Farm 83.2%

Appin 80.1%.

As of September 2018, 44,000 premises in Hume have been connected to NBN fixed line, fixed wireless or NBN satellite services, with the NBN rollout 94% complete across Hume.