Ovum asks if Australia really needs an NBN?

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 18 November 2008 09:31

Strategy

Thanks to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Australia is going through the hurdles of choosing the technology for a “National Broadband Network” (NBN), smack bang in the middle of a time when wireless technology is improving so much that going wired almost seems like going backwards.

Analyst and research firm Ovum has asked the question I’ve asked myself in previous articles on the National Broadband Network, something I’ve cynically and creatively titled the Noidberg BoingBoing Network, the No Broadband Network, the Notionally Boring Network and the Ningnong Batshaft Notwork, although that last one is new to this article.

That question is, of course, “with mobile broadband, who needs an NBN?”

The Ovum analyst with the same brainwave as me is called Nathan Burley, and he starts off by noting the very obvious and stunning uptake in mobile broadband technologies, with Ovum estimating over 1 million wireless broadband connections as at June 2008.

Ovum also notes the striking change in mobile broadband pricing in a firmly cheaper direction. Once upon a time, being able to afford mobile broadband meant the need to sell a kidney to the underworld and your soul to the devil.

But with a 60% drop in prices between July 2007 and October 2008, things have needed to stabilise, with Ovum noting that (some, at least) prices have “bottomed out, with products removed and limited-time offers expiring”.

Still, that hasn’t stopped companies like 3 Mobile introducing their first ever official pre-paid wireless broadband products, with cheap pricing and even the option of 12GB of broadband for $149 that you have 365 to use, along with the option of rolling over unused broadband on a month to month basis.

Ovum also notes that all of this action is “extraordinary” competition to “disrupt Telstra’s fixed access stronghold”, with growth coming from “existing dial-up and the large low-end ADSL user base”, with HSPA 3.5G able to “comfortably provide many Australians’ broadband service.”

What it means is that mobile data has become, for many people, as ubiquitous and affordable as mobile voice.

It has taken several years to transpire, but 2008 truly has been – and still is - the year of mobile broadband for all classes of users no matter what their computing platform.

So what are some interesting stats on Internet usage that Ovum has to share, where else are new mobile broadband users coming from and what is the future of the NBN for any eventual, potential winner? Continued on page 2.