The number of broadband connections in Australia passed half a million according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Snapshot of Broadband Deployment, an update of which was released today.
“The report shows that as at the end of June 2003, there were 516,900 broadband services connected across Australia, up from 258,100 at the same time last year”, ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said. “This represents an annual increase of more than 100 per cent.”
“Even more significant is that the per quarter growth rate appears to be improving after two quarters of relatively flat growth”, said Mr Samuel. “Broadband connections grew at a rate of 22.0% across April – June 2003. This is an improvement from the 16.5% and 16.4% per quarter growth that was reported across January – March 2003 and October – December 2002, respectively.”
The major source of this sharp increase is the growth of DSL take-up, up from 218,800 in the January – March 2003 quarter to 288,100 in the April – June 2003 quarter. More generally, DSL services have grown by more than 166 per cent since June 2002.
“DSL continues to stamp its authority as the preferred broadband technology for many Australians”, Mr Samuel said. “By comparison there were only 215,400 cable services connected at June 2003 an increase of only 53 per cent since June 2002”.
Current and previous ACCC Broadband Snapshot reports will be available on the ACCC website and clicking on telecommunication statistics.