Australia - Broadband Developments and Analysis
2007 Asia’s share of the global broadband
subscriber base stood at 37% by end-2007, with 128 million of the 350 million broadband
subscribers in the world being in Asia. At the same time, the dominant fixed broadband
technology continued to be DSL with 66% of the market. However, in a number of the more
advanced markets of Asia (South Korea, Taiwan) DSL as a broadband platform was in decline
as the number of FttH services began to expand. This report provides an overview of the
broadband market in Asia Pacific.
See the table of content.
Australia - Mobile Communications
Industry Overview
Telstra launched its analogue mobile network in
1987 and in 1992, Optus became the 2nd mobile operator, followed by Vodafone the
following year. All three started to roll out their national digital networks in
1993. In 1999 Telstra launched its 2nd national network based on CDMA, basically
replacing large parts of its rural and regional analogue network that was closed
down in 2000. Hutchison entered the fray in 2000. MVNOs arrived around the same
time. Hutchison became in 2003 one of the first 3G operators in the world. Telstra,
Optus and Vodafone launched their 3G services in late 2005. With mobile penetration
now over 100% and ARPUs and profits dwindling the industry is going though some
tough times. New models including MVNEs are aimed to increase new and more mobile
business services and slowly the industry will start to become more data oriented.See the
table of contents.
Australia Broadband Market -
Infrastructure and Analysis
The broadband infrastructure market is undergoing changes
that are unprecedented in the history of the 100-year-old network. Telstra is in the process
of upgrading its network to NGN and will start rolling out FttN. Its very ambitious plan is
looking at a 3-5 year timeframe. Competition needs to take place over this network and the
vision needs to be extended to FttH. Issues like structural separation, open networks, local
loop unbundling and DSLAMs are all critical developments that will keep the industry occupied
till the next 5 to 10 years. Telstra has been slow to upgrade its networks; however, in order
to tap into new revenue streams to replace the ailing voice business NGNs are needed to develop
triple play models and provide VoIP and IPTV services, as well as a host of value-added wholesale
services such data centres, content hosting, billing and other activities essential to the
emerging Internet economy.See the
table of content.
Select Internet statistics for other
regions here: