Trend of broadband growth continues: ACCC

Take-up of broadband services in Australia continues to increase, according to the latest Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Snapshot of Broadband Deployment, issued today.     

"The report estimates that as at 30 September 2006, there were 3,639,700 total broadband connections across Australia," ACCC Commissioner, Mr Ed Willett, said.

"Once again, the September quarter showed an increase of more than one million customers, or 51.2 per cent, over the preceding 12-month period. This growth continues a trend observed since June 2005.

"Since the entry of a number of new competitors and lower retail prices for broadband services in early 2004, there has been a notable increase in broadband take-up. For example, since the March quarter 2004, take-up of broadband services has increased by more than 400 per cent.

"However, as we would expect, in annual terms the percentage growth of take-up has declined given the increase of the total subscriber base in absolute terms."

DSL-based services remain the most popular type of broadband adopted by Australians, comprising approximately three-quarters of all broadband service connections. However, take-up of all other forms of broadband measured in the September quarter - including cable, satellite and wireless - continues to increase.

In preparing the Broadband Snapshot report for the September quarter, the ACCC made adjustments to the historical data for the xDSL ('Other DSL') category. The adjustments are aimed at ensuring against double-counting in the data, and were made after consultation with the reporting carriers.

Current and previous ACCC Broadband Snapshot reports are available on the ACCC website.

Background

The report details the deployment of broadband services throughout Australia as at 30 September 2006 and is based on data provided by major carriers of broadband services. The report includes aggregated data in relation to the availability of broadband services and gives estimated numbers of services in operation in respect of cable, satellite, ADSL, other DSL and miscellaneous offerings (including wireless figures). It should be noted, however, that not all broadband providers are included in this survey and therefore, the ACCC considers that the figures presented may understate total subscriber numbers, particularly in relation to wireless broadband.

Note: The ACCC's Broadband Snapshot adopts a different methodology to the ABS' Internet Activity Survey, which was issued last week. The main differences are that the Broadband Snapshot is collated using a smaller sample and reports on Services in Operation (SIOs), rather than subscribers.

Main findings:

• As at 30 September 2006 total broadband take-up was 3,639,700.
• Broadband take-up has increased by 1,232,300 or 51 per cent, from the September 2005 figure of 2,407,400.
• The take-up of ADSL services is now at 2,763,000.
• Total quarterly growth in broadband was at 9.3 per cent for the September 2006 quarter:
• while growth is lower than previous quarters, this is to be expected given the larger base of total connections in absolute terms.