Angus Kidman26 June 2007, 7:21 AM
See those white bits...? That's where there's no ADSL2+ coverage.
 See the big white bit: that's where there's -not- ADSL2+ coverage |
A new government report mapping Australia's broadband availability is full of good cheer on the topic, but if you dig a little deeper, there's some disturbing trends punctuating the landscape.
The Communications Infrastructure and Services Availability in Australia 2006-07 report (way to go with the catchy titles, guys) was jointly released today by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) (and way to go with the confusing acronyms also). (Editor's note: Use any more brackets and I'll kill you.)
A press release announcing the report identified a number of key findings:
- there are now 19 ISPs with their own DSLAM deployments;
- the number of exchanges offering ADSL and ADSL2+ have both gone up;
- more than 1.5 million connections in Australia are running at 1.5Mbps or greater;
- and HSDPA wireless broadband has now been adopted by all four major mobile carriers.
(Editor's note: same goes for the semicolons.)
However, not all those numbers are cause for celebration.
The number of ISPs deploying their own DSLAMs is exactly the same as it was a year ago, so competition isn't exactly ablaze.
Claiming 2,432 exchanges with broadband coverage (that is, all of them), Telstra dominates the landscape, with Optus a distant second with 304.
The number of new exchanges enabled for ADSL is lower than the number which gained ADSL2+, which suggests that those who already have some form of service are getting new choices faster than those unfortunate Aussies who are still waiting for Telstra to switch on basic options near their home.
The report makes this point quite clear: "While there has been a steady rise in the number of exchange locations with two or three infrastructure providers, the greatest increase has been identified at exchange locations with five or more infrastructure providers."
Just 88 non-urban exchanges have been equipped for ADSL2+, which suggests that the Optus/Elders (OPEL) project which is set to enable .
As we all know, HSDPA hasn't been universally rolled out in all locations by all carriers -- once again, East Coast capitals are dominant on the list. Or, as the report drily puts it: "Infrastructure competition is predominantly based in the capital cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney." That can also be translated as "Sorry, Hobart," though the Northern Territory is even worse off.
Related stories