Telstra BigPond has announced the connection of its one-millionth broadband service, saying that uptake is continuing to grow unabated.

BigPond managing director, Justin Milne, said that when Australians look to connect to the internet these days, the vast majority now think only in terms of broadband, with uptake continuing to grow at record rates.

“In December 2002 when I started with BigPond, we had only 187,000 broadband customers,” Milne said. “The phenomenal increase in broadband connections over the last three years shows just how big a force broadband is in Australia and for Telstra’s business.”

According to BigPond figures, more than a quarter of Australian households now have broadband – a growth of more than 50% since this time last year, when household broadband penetration was around 16%.

“As the statistics show, BigPond’s launch of ‘broadband at dial up prices’ in February 2004 truly ignited the take up of broadband in Australia,” Milne said.

“Despite claims at the time, that our pro-consumer move to bring down the entry level for broadband would spell doom and gloom for the Internet provider industry, the entire market has benefited and grown at a similar rate.”

BigPond says ADSL sales continue to lead BigPond broadband choice among customers, contributing to Australia’s position as “the world’s fastest growing established DSL market,” as recently reported in a study by UK telecommunications analysts Point Topic.

Milne claimed the continuing popularity of ADSL reinforced the importance of Telstra’s fixed line network while strong demand for wireless services provided further growth opportunities.

“Australia’s broadband market is booming and its ascent is going to continue,” Milne said.

According to Milne, Telstra's recent launch of its CDMA-based wireless broadband service has been a roaring success.

“Sales of BigPond Wireless Broadband have outstripped all forecasts in the seven weeks since it launched and we are currently working on major offers that will once again bring significant excitement to the competitive broadband market.”

Milne said that while broadband penetration rates continue to increase, Australia is still at the tip of the iceberg in the potential applications and benefits of broadband.
 
“Already we can see that the speeds and ‘always on’ connection broadband provides has brought greater efficiencies to businesses and opportunities for home entertainment and education,” Milne said. “As internet speeds get faster and connectivity among devices becomes standard practice, broadband will truly revolutionise life as we know it.”