ACMA and ACCC issue joint report on communications infrastructure and services availability

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today issued a joint report titled Communications Infrastructure and Services Availability in Australia 2006-07.

The report, developed using the expertise of both agencies, discusses the availability of broadband, fixed voice, mobile voice, mobile data, and broadcasting infrastructure and services.

"I welcome the extensive cooperation between our two agencies which has resulted in the publication of this report," Mr Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman, said today.

"The report lays the foundation for future joint reporting on communications markets," Mr Graeme Samuel, ACCC Chairman, said.

The report makes use of data already collected by ACMA as part of its annual data request to industry, and draws heavily on publicly available sources including Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, listed company reports, news items and media releases.

Key findings identified in the report include:

• 19 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) providing broadband services via DSLAM deployments in exchanges across Australia (the same number of providers identified at 30 June 2006)
• growth in the availability of ADSL services, with an additional 323 exchanges enabled between 30 June 2006 and 31 January 2007
• growth in the availability of ADSL2+ services, with 412 exchanges providing ADSL2+ services (compared to 309 at June 30 2006)
• internet connections with download speeds of 1.5Mbit/s or greater increased to 1.56 million (end March 2007), compared to 1.09 million subscribers at the end of September 2006
• increased mobile data rates available with all four mobile carriers upgrading their 3G networks to the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) protocol, and
• increased interest in provision of voice services using Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), which is a service enabled by broadband, drawing some 369 providers into the voice market.

The availability report series reflects ACMA and the ACCC's continuing interest in joint collection and analysis of data on the availability of services and infrastructure throughout Australia. This will assist ACMA in its input to the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee (RTIRC), which is to be convened in 2008, to review the adequacy of telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia.

The report will be available on the ACCC website and the ACMA website, www.acma.gov.au.