Cornered! is a blog devoted, most of the time anyway, to telecommunications: local and global issues, technology, people and trends from the perspective of someone who's been reporting, analysing and commenting on the industry since the dark ages (BC - before competition). Sometimes serious, sometimes flippant, sometimes frivolous. Controversial, analytical, informative, amusing, but never boring; a vehicle for examinations of important issues and observations on my encounters and experiences in an industry where polarised views and hyperbole are the norm.
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Cornered! More selective reporting of OECD stats
Cornered! More selective reporting of OECD stats | More selective reporting of OECD stats |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Tuesday, 17 July 2007 | |
  
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In support of this statement, Coonan claims that "Australia has the third highest internet penetration in the world, behind only Switzerland and Sweden." True, but the OECD also said: "Some countries have a high percentage of total Internet subscribers using dial-up connections (Australia, the Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, Poland and Greece). Which makes us somewhat behind our peers. The she boasted that "Among Australia’s broadband plans is the sixth cheapest broadband plan in the OECD on the basis of per megabit pricing." We are talking speed here, not download quotas. And yes, that is true but the spread for all countries is so large that this is of little significance. The same graph from which Coonan obtained this figure "Range of broadband prices per Mbit/s, October 2006, USD PPP" also shows Australia having the fourth most expensive broadband plan! After quoting a couple more statistics selectively, Coonan said: "This is an outstanding achievement considering the particular challenges of providing telecommunications access at fair prices over a vast continent with a small population." Then she concluded: "It is important to remember that no one comparative table or data set can be legitimately used as the measure of the situation of the industry or the experience of consumers in OECD countries: Australia’s performance must be considered as a whole using a range of indicators.” For once I agree. Wholeheartedly. Unfortunately that statement made a mockery of everything else she had just said.{moscomment} |
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