A new report has revealed a big increase in the number of broadband users in Australia.The joint report was released by the Communications and Media Authority and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/12/2445109.htmWireless broadband aids broadband growth
The number of broadband subscribers in Australia increased by 1.1 million in the 12 months to June this year, according to a new report.
http://www.bandt.com.au/news/50/0C05C550.aspACMA and ACCC release joint report on communications infrastructure and services [news release]
The Australian Communications and Media Authority and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today released a joint report titled Communications Infrastructure and Services Availability in Australia 2008. The report, developed using the expertise of both agencies, discusses the availability of broadband, fixed voice, mobile voice and mobile data in the community.’I welcome the extensive cooperation between our two agencies which has resulted in the publication of this report.’ said Mr Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman’This report provides a concise and objective account of communications infrastructure that is not readily available from other sources.’ Mr Graeme Samuel, ACCC Chairman, said.Key findings identified in the report include:
- The number of broadband subscribers increased by 1.1 million in the 12 months to June 2008. This increase was driven by growth in wireless broadband (47 per cent) and DSL provided on unbundled services (33 per cent). Unbundled services are the unbundled local loop service (ULLS) and the line sharing service (LSS).
- Broadband connection speeds are rising with a 25 per cent increase in subscribers using a 1.5 Mbps service, predominantly as a result of evolution from ADSL1 to ADSL2+ services.
- Mobile services are evolving from second generation (2G) to third generation (3G) mobile with 8.55 million 3G services in operation at June 2008 (an increase of 88 per cent).
- Fixed voice remains a large part of consumers’ spend on communications services and the number of fixed lines remained stable in the year to June 2008 at 11 million fixed line services in operation. Alternatives to the standard telephone service (STS) for making fixed voice calls are emerging.
This is the second annual joint report issued by ACMA and the ACCC. The report is issued as part of a program of cooperation to minimise overlap in industry information-collection and reporting between the two agencies.The examination of infrastructure and service take-up undertaken in this report is intended to provide an overview of communications infrastructure and service availability across Australia in residential and small business retail markets. Telecommunication pricing is examined separately in the ACCC reporting series, Telecommunications Competitive Safeguards and the Changes in the Prices Paid for Telecommunications Services.The Communications Infrastructure and Services Availability in Australia 2008 report can be found on ACMA’s website. The report and associated information can be found on the ACCC’s website.This ACMA news release was sourced from www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311566.ACCC publishes data on take-up of broadband access services [news release]
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today published information concerning the number and distribution of services supplied over Telstra’s customer access network. The data is being released in conjunction with the joint report titled Communications Infrastructure and Services Availability in Australia 2008 published today by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the ACCC.The data is fundamental to a range of decisions that are before the ACCC, and today’s publication is aimed at ensuring the data is available for interested parties’ information and comment.* Infrastructure audit – www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/783617BackgroundThe snapshots have been prepared from data that Telstra provided to the ACCC under a record keeping and reporting rule, the Telstra Customer Access Network Record Keeping Rule (Telstra CAN RKR).Under the Telstra CAN RKR, Telstra reports the total number of ULLS, LSS and its own voice and digital subscriber line (DSL) services that are in operation as at the end of the calendar quarter. The data are disaggregated by individual provider on an exchange service area (ESA) basis.Under a Disclosure Direction made by the ACCC on 14 August 2008, Telstra is required to provide a snapshot of these data marked for public release on a quarterly basis.For the purposes of preparing the snapshot, the data are aggregated into geographic areas (ULLS bands).The ULLS bands are as follows:
- Band 1 ESAs are in central business districts
- Band 2 ESAs are in metropolitan areas (more than 108.4 services in operation (SIOs) per square km)
- Band 3 ESAs are in regional and rural areas (more than 6.54 SIOs per sq km)
- Band 4 ESAs are in remote areas (less than 6.55 SIOs per sq km).
The ACCC has published on it website maps of the four ULLS bands to assist in interpretation of the data.The ULLS is a service for access to unconditioned cable, usually a copper wire pair, between a telephone exchange and an end user’s home or office. The ULLS essentially gives an access seeker the use of the copper pair without any dial tone or carriage service. This allows the access seeker to use its own equipment in an exchange to provide a range of services, including traditional voice services and high speed internet access, to the end-user.The LSS is an access service that allows access to the higher frequency spectrum of a line (metallic pair) on which a PSTN voice service is being supplied. It typically allows two carriers to provide separate services over a line. Access to the higher frequency spectrum is generally used to supply broadband (DSL) services, while the PSTN voice service is supplied over the lower frequency spectrum.The snapshots also include charts of access seeker presences at exchanges; this is calculated by identifying the number of access seekers who have taken up a ULLS and/or a LSS service at each exchange and grouping exchanges with the same number of access seekers together.DSLAM site estimates use access seeker presence information; a DSLAM site is an exchange where Telstra has reported that an access seeker has taken up a ULLS and/or LSS service. This method of calculating DSLAM sites was identified in the ACCC Infrastructure Record-Keeping Rule 2007 Regulation Impact Statement, December 2007, Page 11, (publicly available at www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/835987) as an alternative to requiring all carriers to report on their own DSLAMs in order to reduce regulatory burden on industry. This method also increases the consistency, timeliness and accuracy of reporting.The information is being published for the information of interested parties, as this type of information is likely to be relevant to a number of matters that could come before the ACCC for decision, such as applications for exemptions from regulation in geographic areas.This news release was sourced from www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/853327/fromItemId/142.