169/04
9 December 2004
Consumers better off under Government telecommunication reforms
Australian households are on average $720 better off a year as a result of the Australian Government's telecommunication reforms, according to the Australian Communications Authority (ACA's) annual report tabled in Federal Parliament today.
The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan said the Allen Consulting Group study cited in the ACA's report showed the Australian Government's reforms had given a $10.4 billion boost to the Australian economy, created around 29,600 extra jobs and led to a 96 per cent increase in the output of the telecommunications industry.
"It is pleasing to see a positive report that again highlights the benefits of the Government's telecommunications policy," Senator Coonan said.
"The Government's liberalisation of the telecommunications industry is delivering continued market growth and innovation and is putting downward pressure on service prices. Regulatory safeguards are being reviewed and developed, and targeted funding is ensuring all Australians share in service benefits."
The Telecommunications Performance Report 2003-04 identified mobile and broadband Internet services as the main drivers of industry growth in 2003-04. The number of mobile services increased 2.2 million to 16.5 million nationally and the number of mobile users per 100 people rose by 10 per cent.
Broadband customer numbers reflected the growing consumer demand for use of more advanced telecommunications services, rising 83 per cent during the reporting period.
The number of players in the telecommunications market increased from 910 to 1043 carriers and carriage service providers and, including five new licensed carriers-there are now 99 licensed carriers.
"Investment in new networks and innovation in services have also contributed to industry expansion, particularly in the wireless broadband, third generation mobile and Internet Protocol telephony markets," Senator Coonan said.
The report examines the first full year of operation of the Network Reliability Framework (NRF), an initiative introduced by the Government in January 2003 to monitor and improve the reliability of telephone services provided by Telstra.
NRF data for 2003-04 indicates Telstra's national network reliability-the percentage of fixed services without a fault-was no less than 99.9 per cent for each month.
According to the ACA, this means that on average a customer may experience about one fault every ten years on their fixed telephone service.
"The Australian Government is committed to ensuring the best possible telecommunications services for Australians and will continue to build on the success of its telecommunications policy," Senator Coonan said.
"I am pleased to see that that overall customer satisfaction with reliability of phone services remained high during 2003-04.
"It is also pleasing to see that Telstra's fault repair performance for 2003-04 was the highest it has been for three years with just over 90 per cent of faults fixed within the Customer Service Guarantee timeframes.
"Overall this report provides a positive picture of a healthy Australian telecommunications industry and the effectiveness of the Government's important consumer safeguards.
"I encourage industry to look carefully at the report and respond positively to aspects of their performance where the report indicates some shortcomings."
Media Contact: Jane McMillan 0438 690 305