Technology news and Jobs 
VIRTUALISATION Soaring wireless broadband numbers undermine NBN: Minchin
VIRTUALISATION Soaring wireless broadband numbers undermine NBN: Minchin | Soaring wireless broadband numbers undermine NBN: Minchin |
|
| by James Riley | |
| Monday, 14 September 2009 | |
  
Featured Whitepaper
5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support
The ABS data showed that the market share for fixed line broadband services fell from 63% to 57%, while the mobile wireless marketshare – incredibly – jumped from 20% to 27%. In the six months from December last year to June, the ABS said the number of mobile wireless subscriptions climbed more than 50% from 1.3 million to 2 million, while fixed line numbers (about 4.2 million) fell slightly. With users voting with the feet and leaving fixed-line services in favour of the convenience of mobility, Senator Minchin’s office says the ABS numbers highlight the risk government is taking by committing $43 billion to fixed line fibre. “If not the numbers, you cannot ignore the trend,” Senator Minchin’s office told iTWire. “Really it highlights what we have been saying … that Government’s should not attempt to pick winners.” The ABS numbers also demonstrated a general trend towards marginally higher download speeds continued, with 57% of subscribers now using a download speed of 1.5Mbps or greater, compared with 51% in December 2008. Regardless, given the changing market trend, Senator Minchin says it is “reckless” to move forward without a comprehensive and publicly debated cost-benefit analysis . “Every customer who makes the shift, is one less customer who will be prepared to pay for fixed line NBN services and Labor has no idea the extent to which this trend will continue into the future or what threat this may pose to the viability of the NBN,” he said. |
Tags
| < Next story in category | Previous story in the category > |
|---|
