There are two digital Australias. In one, you’ve got fast, reliable internet. You can work from home seamlessly, stream whatever you want, and participate fully in the digital economy. In the other, you’re constantly buffering, dropping out of video calls, and watching the rest of the country move online while you’re stuck waiting for pages to load.

Guess which one regional Australia is in?

The NBN Didn’t Fix It

When the National Broadband Network was announced, it was supposed to solve this problem. Universal fast broadband for all Australians, whether you lived in Sydney or a small town in outback Queensland.

But the multi-technology mix approach meant that regional areas often got the worst technologies. Satellite connections with high latency and data caps. Fixed wireless that works great until everyone in your area tries to use it at once. Aging copper that was already inadequate when it was first installed.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s 2025 Broadband Performance Report, the median download speed in capital cities was 87 Mbps. In regional areas, it was 42 Mbps. That’s a massive gap, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Those are median speeds—meaning half the connections are worse. And they don’t capture the reliability issues: the dropouts, the evening congestion, the days when it just doesn’t work at all.

It’s Not Just Speed

Poor internet isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s an economic barrier.

During the pandemic, this became painfully obvious. Kids in regional areas struggled with online learning because their connections couldn’t handle video calls. People couldn’t work from home effectively. Businesses couldn’t operate online.

And when the pandemic restrictions eased and many city workers kept working remotely, did they move to regional areas? Some did. But many looked at the internet situation and decided against it.

The Regional Australia Institute found that poor connectivity was one of the top three barriers preventing tree-changers from making the move. We’re literally limiting regional population growth because we can’t provide basic infrastructure.

The Business Impact

If you’re running a business in regional Australia, poor internet puts you at a fundamental disadvantage.

You can’t use modern cloud-based tools effectively. Video conferencing with clients or suppliers is unreliable. Uploading large files takes forever. Participating in online marketplaces is difficult.

The Australian Regional Tourism Network estimated that poor connectivity costs regional tourism operators around $3 billion annually in lost bookings and operational inefficiencies. Tourists expect to be able to share photos on social media, stream entertainment in their accommodation, and work remotely if they’re extending their stay. When they can’t, they go elsewhere.

And it’s not just tourism. Regional manufacturers can’t effectively use IoT sensors. Farmers can’t fully benefit from precision agriculture technologies. Medical practices struggle with telehealth. Schools can’t deliver modern digital education.

The Health Implications

Telehealth was supposed to improve healthcare access in regional areas. And it has helped—when it works.

But telehealth requires reliable internet. A consultation that keeps freezing or dropping out isn’t much use. Specialists can’t review high-resolution medical images over a connection that can barely stream video.

According to the Australian Medical Association, around 30% of telehealth consultations in regional areas experience technical difficulties that impact the quality of care. That’s not acceptable.

This isn’t hypothetical. There are people in regional Australia who can’t access specialist medical advice because the internet isn’t good enough. In 2026. In one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

The Education Gap

Education is increasingly digital. Online learning resources, research databases, collaboration tools—students need reliable internet to access all of this.

But if you’re a student in regional Australia, you’re often dealing with connections that can’t handle video lectures, struggle with large file downloads, and drop out during online classes.

The Australian Education Union reported that students in regional areas were significantly more likely to fall behind during the pandemic’s online learning period. Even now, with in-person learning resumed, the gap persists because so much homework and research requires internet access.

We’re creating a two-tier education system based on geography. That should concern everyone.

Mobile Isn’t the Answer

Some people suggest that mobile networks solve the problem. And for basic tasks, 4G or 5G can work well.

But coverage in regional areas is patchy. Once you’re outside major towns, mobile coverage drops off quickly. And mobile data caps make it impractical as a full internet replacement for many households.

There’s also the cost. Unlimited mobile data plans are expensive. For a family trying to support work from home, online schooling for kids, and normal household internet use, it gets very costly very quickly.

According to the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, regional households spend on average 30% more on telecommunications than metro households to get worse service. That’s backwards.

The Promised Upgrades

The government has announced various upgrade programs. Regional Broadband Scheme. Mobile Black Spot Program. NBN co’s regional upgrade plan.

These help, but the pace is glacial. Areas that desperately need better connectivity are being told to wait years. And even the planned upgrades often don’t bring regional areas up to the standard that cities already enjoy.

There’s also no long-term strategy for maintaining parity. Cities get upgraded to new technologies—regional areas get “good enough for now” solutions that’ll be obsolete in a few years.

What It’ll Take

Fixing this requires treating digital connectivity as essential infrastructure, like roads and electricity.

We don’t accept that regional roads should be massively inferior to city roads. We don’t accept that regional areas should have unreliable electricity. Why do we accept it for internet?

The Infrastructure Australia’s 2025 Infrastructure Priority List didn’t even include regional broadband as a high priority. That needs to change.

We need investment in fibre to the premises for regional centres, not just capital cities. We need backup technologies (satellite, fixed wireless) that actually work reliably. We need ongoing maintenance and upgrades, not just initial rollouts followed by neglect.

The Social Cost

Beyond all the practical impacts, there’s a social dimension to digital exclusion.

When you can’t participate in online communities, access streaming services everyone’s talking about, or use the apps and platforms that are increasingly central to social life, you’re isolated.

Young people in regional areas feel this acutely. They see what’s available to their city counterparts and feel left behind. This contributes to the ongoing migration of young people from regional areas to cities—brain drain that regional communities can’t afford.

Time for Real Action

Australia’s digital divide isn’t a temporary problem that’ll resolve itself. It’s a policy choice.

We’ve chosen to accept that regional Australia gets second-tier internet. We’ve chosen to roll out technologies that we know are inadequate for modern needs. We’ve chosen to underfund ongoing upgrades.

These choices have consequences. Economic consequences. Health consequences. Educational consequences. Social consequences.

Regional Australia drives a huge portion of our economy. Agriculture, mining, tourism—these industries are based in regional areas. The people who work in them deserve the same digital infrastructure as everyone else.

It’s 2026. It’s time we delivered it.