Four ISPs left '” and Internode's the point five, says Malone

Renai LeMay
Monday, 16 August 2010 15:30

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

There are only 'four and a half' meaningful players left in Australia's internet service provider market, iiNet supremo Michael Malone said today '” with companies like Primus, Eftel and others just not relevant any more in terms of providing competition.

As it revealed its annual financial results today, iiNet displayed the chart above, illustrating how the market had consolidated to just a handful of players '” with former competitors like Westnet, Netspace and recently AAPT having been snapped up by iiNet and others having merged or been acquired.

'I argue there's really only four and a half players left that are meaningful,' Malone said.

Of those four, Malone said it was TPG and iiNet that had in recent times been the driving force for competition in the market. 'The other two, Primus and Eftel, we don't see as particularly relevant from a competitive point of view,' he said.

Internode was seen as a business partner and also, like iiNet, as a force for innovation and better service in the market, but Malone said Simon Hackett's baby was 'sub-scale'.