Telstra BigPond today switched on Australia's fastest consumer cable broadband, with the launch of 30 Megabits per second (Mbps) BigPond Cable Extreme.

BigPond Cable Extreme at up to 30 Mbps will be available to more than 1.8 million Sydney and Melbourne homes and businesses, and up to 17 Mbps in all other parts of Telstra's HFC network.

BigPond Group Managing Director, Mr Justin Milne, said the new speeds were almost double the previous Cable Extreme speeds in Sydney and Melbourne, almost four times faster than standard cable broadband.

"It is the fastest cable broadband you can get at home in Sydney or Melbourne and demonstrates our commitment to deliver high speed broadband to Australian families," Mr Milne said.

"This is the next big thing for the digital home. Higher speeds turbocharge websurfing, emailing and downloading, but they also allow families with several PCs and laptops to be connected simultaneously so everyone can get a faster connection than before.

"Not only is the higher speed great news, but customers already on 17 Mbps Cable Extreme can get the extra speed at no further cost. They need only have a compatible modem and turn it off and turn it back on again, to receive the up to 30 Mbps service.

"Customers with standard BigPond Cable Broadband could jump from 8 Mbps to up to 30 Mbps, for less than 40 cents a day extra.

"In addition to the new download speeds will be an increase in upload speeds to one Mbps, which will make it quicker to send large emails, upload data to websites or share digital files," Mr Milne said.

The company also pointed fingers at regulators, saying "If regulators get out of the way, Telstra invests in high speed broadband for Australia".