Adelaide's tech and startup scene pushes for faster broadband as connectivity strains under demand

Adelaide's tech and startup scene is hitting a wall, and it's made of copper and fibre.

Founders, co-working operators and remote-first companies across the CBD and suburbs are reporting that standard National Broadband Network connections are no longer cutting it. The crunch comes as Adelaide tries to cement itself as a serious player in the national tech economy, with more digital startups, AI labs and software-as-a-service companies calling the city home.

The problem isn't new, but it's getting worse. Several co-working spaces in the city's tech corridor along Waymouth Street and around the Lot Fourteen precinct have told The Daily Adelaide that shared fibre connections are routinely saturated by midday, with video calls dropping and file uploads stalling.

Bandwidth bottlenecks hit co-working and remote work

One co-working operator on Gawler Place said their 250-megabit connection, which served 40 desks, was regularly maxed out by 10 a.m. on weekdays. They've since moved to a business-grade fibre plan from a third-party provider, not the NBN, and are paying nearly double the standard residential rate for a dedicated 1-gigabit service.

That story is repeating across the city. At a startup hub in Stepney, founders pooling office space told The Daily Adelaide they now negotiate local fibre deals as a group to keep costs down. One founder estimated the collective saved roughly 30 percent by buying wholesale bandwidth through a reseller, but still warned that the city's core internet infrastructure lacks the redundancy needed for a growing tech workforce.

The issue is particularly acute for startups that rely on real-time data, video conferencing or large file transfers. A medtech company based in the city's east said their team of 12 routinely maxes out a 500-megabit connection just by running simultaneous Zoom calls and cloud-based development tools.

Local solutions emerge, but not fast enough

Some in the scene are turning to fixed wireless and low-Earth orbit satellite services, particularly for teams working across Adelaide's outer suburbs. One founder based in the northern suburbs switched to Starlink last year after repeated NBN outages during summer heatwaves. They reported more consistent speeds, but at a cost of $200 per month for the service plus a one-time hardware fee.

The City of Adelaide has flagged interest in municipally owned fibre networks, but no specific rollout has been announced. The state government's $10 million Tech Startup Fund, announced in late 2025, includes provisions for infrastructure support, though none of that money has been allocated to broadband upgrades as of this month.

For now, the startup community is largely left to fend for itself. Co-working spaces are banding together to negotiate bulk deals, and some landlords in the CBD are starting to advertise premium fibre connectivity as a selling point for tech tenants.

What happens next is less about technology and more about coordination. Adelaide's tech scene needs either a wholesale upgrade from NBN Co. on its Adelaide backbone, or a coordinated private investment in dedicated fibre loops across the city's startup hubs. Neither appears imminent.

Founders advise any startup setting up in Adelaide to budget for a business-grade fibre plan from day one, and to check with their landlord whether the building is already wired for dedicated connectivity. The free co-working Wi-Fi won't cut it for long.