Australian broadband users are getting more out of their Internet connections although prices have remained static, a report from the Internet Industry Association (IIA) has found.
"What our most recent survey found was that the prices haven't changed but the capacities of people's connections are increasing," Peter Coroneos, chief executive of the Internet Industry Association (IIA), said.
According to Coroneos, competition between ISPs is driving increased capacity: "Ours is one of the most competitive industries in Australia in terms of the number of players. We identified as many as 600 ISPs of all descriptions at year's end 2007."
Despite the diversity of Australian ISPs, the IIA research found that it was mainly competition between the big names that was most beneficial to customers.
The report found that data caps, particularly those offered by large providers, were being increased substantially to satisfy the high usage patterns of Australian broadband users.
The report concludes that the average cost of data was AU$80/gigabyte at the start of 2007 but fell to AU$52/gigabyte by the end of the year.
Despite the promising statistics, Coroneos said: "A broader question from the research is what can be done to reduce the underlying cost of data in Australia."
He told ZDNet.com.au today that he believes "Australia still has a way to go in terms of utilising the real possibilities of broadband," and said the relationship between broadband, industry and innovation will be critical in the years to come.
"It will fundamentally become what electricity was to industry 150 years ago," he said. "That's the kind of the trajectory we're on, heading towards the industrialisation of broadband."
The IIA chief executive predicted that 2008 will see even greater competition on the capacity front, as some ISPs prepare their business plans with the increased overseas capacity enabled by the Pipe Pacific Cable in mind.
"How fast is fast enough is really a question of end-user expectations, the Internet as a whole is being underutilised at the moment," he said.
While Coroneos believes that the Pipe cable has already had an effect on the broadband market even before its construction, some industry watchers have been more reserved in their judgement.
Guy Cranswick, senior analyst at research firm IBRS, told ZDNet.com.au that "it is absolutely impossible to say right now" how the cable will affect retail broadband pricing.
usa mistress
09/02/2008 12:21 PM
Australia has a long way to go in everything that has to do with technology. The latest technology is not accessible, when it gets here it is incredibly overpriced. There is no decent competition so the prices for broadband are astronomical and the service is awful, the equipment provided with the service is ancient and the poeple installing it, incompetent. Not to mention the amount of people I have met who think internet is a thing of the devil STILL. I am from the USA, been in Australia 2 years - feels like I got myself into a time machine and went back 10 years in techonology. Same goes to cable. I was recently in Brazil, and believe it or not, South America has more channels which do not repeat the same shows at nauseum for less money. Pathetic.
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Exia
03/03/2008 09:09 AM
@USA Mistress; there's actually a higher percentage of people in the usa that use dialup than here in Australia; and Australia has one of the highest data usages in the world.
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Dinger
10/05/2008 02:20 PM
In my experience both comments reflect accuracy. We do have one of the highest usages of date globally (according to statistics), but ironically our technology and speeds are slower and more pricey when compared with o'seas advances. By the way USA mistress, the correct spelling for the Latin translation of "To a disgusting extent", is <i><b>ad nauseam</b></i>
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