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Telecommunications ACCC to cease reporting broadband numbers
Telecommunications ACCC to cease reporting broadband numbers | ACCC to cease reporting broadband numbers |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Thursday, 19 April 2007 | |
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The Snapshot was initiated following a directive from the Minister for Communication in 2003. This has now been revoked. Announcing its decision to cease collecting and reporting data, the ACCC said: "Given the recent recommencement of the ABS' Internet Activity Survey and confirmation that its half-yearly reporting will continue in future, the ACCC will cease publication of the Broadband Snapshot in the interests of minimising uncertainty and inconsistencies in reporting. "Data collection and publication of this nature is not part of the ACCC's core telecommunications functions, and given the voluntary nature of the survey which underpins the Broadband Snapshot, may lead to under-estimation relative to the more robust method employed by the ABS." However, it added: "While the ACCC will no longer be publishing the Broadband Snapshot, it will be giving further consideration to the ongoing collection of comparable data for certain needs which the ABS data alone will not fulfil." A spokeswoman for communications minister, Helen Coonan, told iTWire: "The minster did not influence the ACCC’s decision. Her position is that the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Internet Activity Survey, which was resumed last year, is a more comprehensive survey of broadband take-up as it is based on a full census of all internet service providers." To collect its data, the ACCC canvassed the top nine broadband ISPs asking them to provide data on the geographic availability of their service and the total number of end-user connections. The ACCC noted in the snapshot that "As the survey is not a census of broadband take-up activity, the ACCC considers that the figures presented may understate total subscriber numbers although not to a material extent." |
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