NBN Co’s pledge of $5.2 million in “relief credits” for retail service providers has been baulked at by Telstra, who say the support measures fall well short.

The measure was implemented to counteract increasing bandwidth costs caused by the lockdowns, with the NBN offering credit payments to mitigate the increase in wholesale data costs. This will ensure retail service providers can keep up with expected download speeds.

The one-off payment NBN Co. have offered is deemed “insufficient” by the telco.

“It doesn’t ease the burden that retailers are carrying,” a Telstra spokesperson told ARN.

“With millions of Australians still dealing with the impacts of COVID, we continue to see higher than normal demand for data in areas impacted by lockdowns. To meet this demand, we have increased the CVC capacity we buy from NBN Co as traffic has increased 30-40 per cent.

“It is disappointing that in a time when we’re trying to support customers to stay safe, retailers are left having to pay more while NBN Co are reaping a financial benefit.”