[LINK] Fewer Australians subscribing to broadband

[Richard Chirgwin]

1. The key word missing is "fixed", as in "the take-up of fixed 
broadband internet connections declined last year".

2. Unthreading the OECD data is always fun. The ABS gives Australia 
6.712 million household broadband connections, but this includes mobile 
wireless. It also gives 1.4 million business connections including 
mobile wireless. It's a long stretch to extract the estimated 5.133 
million household *fixed* broadband connections out of the ABS data, and 
I don't propose to spend the rest of the morning on it. But I will make 
a point I've made before about the OECD data: it's too opaque. If you 
can't trace the reported data back to its original source, then it's of 
limited value.

3. "Such as through their mobile phone". I don't actually believe Paul 
Budde said this; I would bet he said something like "through the mobile 
network". Because most wireless broadband is just not through the 
"mobile phone". Sigh.

Regardless of the difficulty of turning the OECD data into a sound 
representation of anything, I'll bet there will be the usual breast 
beating about how we're falling behind something-or-other.

RC

Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>   Fewer Australians subscribing to broadband
> Ari Sharp
> SMH
> June 14, 2010
> http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/fewer-australians-subscribing-to-broadband-20100613-y614.html
>
> Australia is one of only two developed countries where the take-up of 
> broadband internet connections declined last year, new figures show.
>
> Figures for 31 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation 
> and Development show the number of broadband subscribers per 100 of the 
> population slipped 0.55 last year in Australia. Finland recorded an even 
> bigger slide.
>
> In contrast, broadband take-up grew 1.39 per 100 of the population in 
> the US, 1.69 in South Korea and 2.96 in Germany, leaving the OECD 
> average at 1.47.
>
> An industry analyst, Paul Budde, said Australia's slide might be a 
> reflection of many people opting for wireless internet services, such as 
> through their mobile phone, rather than a broadband connection.
>
> He said he did not believe this trend would cause alarm for the 
> government's proposed national broadband network, because customers 
> requiring a service with greater bandwidth would still rely on fixed 
> line services.
>
> That view was backed by John Hilvert, communications director for the 
> Internet Industry Association, who cited earlier OECD research showing 
> Australia had the third highest usage of mobile internet devices.
>
> ''People in Australia love competition, and at the moment wireless is 
> better value for money and more flexible,'' he said.
>
> The latest figures leave Australia in 17th place for overall broadband 
> take-up, with 23.3 connections per 100 of the population. That matches 
> the average for the 31 countries in the study.
>
> Broadband penetration appears to roughly match economic development. The 
> Netherlands and Denmark (both 37.1) sit on top of the table while Chile 
> (9.6), Mexico (9.2) and Turkey (9.0) make up the rear.
>
>