Telstra spins OECD broadband stats

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 23 October 2005 17:50

IT Industry - Deals

Telstra has seized on the latest broadband stats from the OECD to brag about its achievements in boosting Australia's broadband take up.

The figures for 30 June show that Australia had 2.183 million subscribers at that date a 41 percent increase from the 1.548 million at the date of the OECD's last report 31 December 2004. According to Telstra these figures "[show] Australia's rate of broadband growth has been faster than any other major economy."

This appears to be true. However the OECD did not make this comparison in its report. It compared the June 2005 figures with the June 2004 figures to conclude that: "The strongest per-capita growth over the past 12 months has been in Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland and the United Kingdom." On a 12-month comparison, Australia was the eighth fastest growing country.

Despite the surge in the six months to 30 June, at that date Australia was still 17th overall with 10.9 percent penetration. This was just ahead of Germany and Italy, 18 and 19 respectively but well behind Canada, a country with which it is often compared, which ranked sixth with 19.2 percent. The OECD average was 11.8 percent.

Telstra BigPond managing director, Justin Milne, said: "Australia needs to at least beat the OECD average, and we can only do that by continuing to make broadband even more accessible for Australian consumer. The new figures also vindicate Telstra's decision last year to offer Australians broadband at dial-up prices."

The OECD's broadband report can be found here.