Report Buyer, the online destination for business intelligence for major industry sectors, has now added a new report on the rapid penetration of broadband in Australia.

2007 Australia - Broadband Market notes that Australia taking to high speed connections despite Telstra and the Government not coming to an agreement over key issues. By mid-2007 there were close to 4.5 million subscribers in the country.

In residential markets there has been 64 % penetration while in the business market this figure goes up to 80 % . While there has been a quantitative rise in the number of broadband users, the quality of connections, and the price that customers have to pay have been areas of concern.

The majority of customers are still on services that provide only 256Kb/s or 512Kb/s. Telstra, however, does make an 8Mb/s available, but this is not a guaranteed speed, only a best-effort service. There is a perceived need for the government to set up a right regulatory environment so that an infrastructure can be set up to provide people with optimum broadband connections.

Key findings of the report include:

• There are now close to 4.5 million broadband users in Australia, growing to 6 million over the next 2 years.

• More than 75% are still on low-speed broadband (under 1Mb/s). Broadband prices for high-speed broadband are higher than in comparable countries.

• Most business are now connected via broadband.

• Progress is slow in ADSL2+ (24Mb/s speeds) as Telstra is not an active player in this market.

• Independent service providers have installed over 2,500 DSLAMs. Telstra has launched a cable modem upgrade, offering higher speeds over this network.

• Broadband is essential infrastructure for e-health, education and smart energy meter deployments.

• These sectors can each save costs between 10% and 20% by deploying their services over true-broadband infrastructure.

• Infrastructure upgrades will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. From ADSL to ADSL2+ to VDSL to FttN, and eventually FttH. This process takes 7 to 15 years.

The 2007 Australia report provides high-level overviews and strategic analyses of the developments in fixed broadband. It identifies business opportunities, points out the hype and the pitfalls, and it will be of assistance in making the right business decisions.

Report Buyer Product ID: BUD00123