[LINK] Affordable Internet in Australia for low-income families ? Never happen...

[Tom Koltai]

29% of  Australians are not connected to the Internet. (Koltai statistic
of broadband and estimated wireless broadband connecitons).

The OECD states that 80.1% of Australians have access to the Internet.
(That's have access - not are connected.)

The ABS social trends reports "In 2008-09, three-quarters (74%) of
people aged 15 years and over had used the internet in the previous 12
months. "
 
------------------------------
>From Wikipedia
According to the Smith Family in 2001.

1.	13.0% of Australians live in poverty (2.86 million).
2.	2.9% of children live in poverty.
3.	6.8% of single parent families live in poverty.

By 2006, according to the UN poverty index, the value for the
'Population below 50% of median income (%)' for Australia was 14.3%
(2.84 Million). 

Australia's child poverty rate falls in the middle of the international
rankings. In 2007, UNICEF's report on child poverty in OECD countries
revealed that Australia had the 14th highest child poverty rate. 
=====================

In Australia the recent price rise from $6.0 to $16.0 for the (ULL)
copper for most Australians means that the majority of low income
families in Aus would never be able to be connected on an offer as
generous as the following one from US provider, Comcast.

The ACCC failed to take into account that Australia is one of the most
expensive countries in the world for Internet and that the education
divide between the haves and the have nots is merely increasing with
Telstra dictating that the empty copper, (paid for three to five decades
ago by taxpayers) is worth three times what it was worth a decade ago.

This of course increases the value of the Telstra cable network as a
copper alternative. Telstra cable is available to approximately 30% of
Australians.

Quote/
Comcast offers low-income families $9.95 a month Internet
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/08/7306191-comcast-offers-l
ow-income-families-995-a-month-internet
Some low-income families struggling to pay $30 for Comcast's cable
Internet service may qualify for a $9.95-a-month plan from the company,
which offers service in 39 states.

Comcast's "Internet Essentials" is geared to those who have at least one
child that receives free school lunches through the National School
Lunch Program. Other criteria include being located where Comcast offers
Internet service, not having subscribed to Comcast Internet service
within the last 90 days, and not having an overdue Comcast bill or
unreturned equipment.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal, a unit of
Comcast.)

Among the conditions of the FCC's approval earlier this year
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41138359/>  of Comcast buying a 51 percent
stake in NBC Universal, was that Comcast continue to offer an
affordable, standalone broadband option for customers who want Internet
access but not cable TV service. Philadelphia-based Comcast has about 23
million cable TV subscribers and nearly 17 million Internet subscribers.

Comcast says it will deliver download speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps and
upload speeds of up to 384 Kbps for those in the Internet Essentials
program.

Other features will include not having to pay any activation or
equipment rental fees, "never" having any price increases as long as you
qualify for the program, and being able to buy a computer at "initial
enrollment" for $150 plus tax.
/Quote


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