A new report reveals SMBs have decisively shifted to broadband but VoIP still has a way to go before it penetrates the small business market.

The 2005 Pacific Internet Broadband Barometer, released by ISP Pacific Internet (Australia), with research and content contributed by IDC Australia, shows that 77% of internet enabled SMBs now use broadband technologies. xDSL is the dominant access technology and the survey shows a 160% increase in its adoption from 2004, with 58% of connected SMBs now using it for high-speed internet access.

The report also shows that the broadband market in Australia has matured and is entering a second phase when looking at SMB technology usage trends.

“SMBs are now very familiar with “first wave” internet applications, such as email which is used by 93%. We’re now seeing the emergence of “second wave” applications, such as sales or customer relationship management tools, which are moving out of top-end enterprise sized businesses and into the mass SMB market. Our research reveals there will be a 210% increase in SMBs adopting ASP tools over the next twelve months. In addition, industry specific applications that often rely on broadband, like health systems, will deliver 75% growth in SMB use,” said Dennis Muscat, Pacific Internet’s managing director.

“But, despite all the industry hype around VoIP and convergence, relative to other technologies, current and intentional use of VoIP, unified messaging and videoconferencing remains low among SMBs. This suggests VoIP take-up is being driven by the top-end of town – among government and enterprise organisations, and also by residential early adopters,” he said.

Government initiatives to reduce the digital divide between metropolitan and regional broadband take-up appear to have taken hold with broadband take-up surging to 70% among regional SMBs.

When asked about the sale of Telstra, close to 4 in 10 regional organisations believe it will result in a marked decline in services while only 12% of regional SMBs believe the Telstra sale will result in positive developments.

Download a copy of the 2005 Pacific Internet Broadband Barometer report at: www.pacific.net.au/broadbandbarometer.