Broadband users topping three million?

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 04 April 2006 07:39

IT Industry - Strategy

Australia is now likely to have over three million broadband customers, according the latest figures from the ACCC. The ACCC's latest broadband snapshot report shows that there were 2,785,000 broadband services in Australia at 31 December 2005, an increase of 12.1 percent on the prior quarter.
If that growth was maintained in the latest quarter, the total would now stand at over 3.12 million. The ACCC said that December quarter growth was down on previous quarters (18 percent in the September quarter) but that 2005 saw the take up of broadband services increase by 85 percent, an increase of over 1.25 million customers. More than two million of the 31 December total were on ADSL services.

However, there was also steady growth in the take-up of broadband delivered by other technologies, including satellite and cable. There are also signs that take-up of wireless broadband services is beginning to increase, "albeit off a limited base", according to the ACCC.

The Snapshot showed a total of 53,600 users in the 'other' category, up from 40,800 at 30 September. The ACCC said:

"Additional wireless figures were reported and included in the 'other' category for the first time in the September 2005 quarter. As these were not reported in previous quarters, and as not all wireless providers provided data for the Broadband Snapshot, it has not been possible to calculate take-up figures that are representative of the growth of wireless and 'other' broadband technologies in the quarters prior to September 2005. The growth rate in this category represents limited take-up figures as not all wireless providers have provided data to the ACCC. However, this growth rate does represent the additional wireless figures included from September 2005 onwards."

This and earlier snapshots are available at on the ACC's website, here.