16 October 2006

Strong growth in Broadband take-up continues

Australia has continued its strong growth in broadband take-up according to the latest OECD report for June 2006, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, said today.

The OECD report singled out Australia as an example of a country which is connecting to broadband at a very high rate. The report says Australia is one of just eight countries that have added more than six subscribers per 100 inhabitants during the past year.

“It is clear that the number of broadband subscribers in Australia is now well above the OECD average and we may be ranked as high as second in the OECD in terms of the growth broadband take-up. On any read we are certainly in the top five for the second consecutive year. This is an extraordinary achievement for Australia.” Senator Coonan said.

“We are now fast approaching four million broadband subscribers in Australia, with an estimated 3,518,100 broadband services in Australia as of June 2006. This is despite constant carping from the Labor Party that claims Australia is a broadband backwater.

“Contrary to the Labor Party’s claims, more Australians than ever are taking up broadband delivered by a range of technologies and a range of providers.
“And the ACCC’s latest broadband snapshot shows there was an absolute increase in subscriber numbers of 346,900 in the June 2006 quarter, compared with 210,000 in the June 2004 quarter.

“An increase of more than one third of a million subscribers in one quarter in a finite market does not imply that broadband take-up has gone off the boil as Labor claims. Quite the contrary.

“The June 2006 increase is the third biggest ever in Australia, and it follows the second biggest ever increase in broadband (of 376,600 subscribers) in the March 2006 quarter.

“This demonstrates that broadband is continuing to grow at record levels and that Australian Government policies continue to encourage take-up and investment in infrastructure in Australia.

“In contrast, Kim Beazley has put forward a flawed broadband policy for which the Opposition communications spokesman Senator Stephen Conroy has admitted he doesn’t know the cost and he would have to ‘sit down and work it out’. Labor would rob the $3.1 billion broadband bank for an untested and uncosted rival network.”