Communications Infrastructure and Services Availability in Australia 2006–07
Communications Infrastructure and Services Availability in Australia 2006–071
©Commonwealth of Australia 2007
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Communications Infrastructure and Services Availability in Australia 2006–071
Contents
Introduction
About this report
Information and sources
Feedback
Executive summary
Chapter 1 – Broadband services
DSL
ADSL2+ Infrastructure
Hybrid Fibre Coaxial Cable
Wireless Broadband
Satellite Broadband
Broadband over Power Line
Optical fibre developments
Backhaul Transmission Networks
Government Programs to Improve Broadband Availability
Internet take-up
Broadband
Subscriber split – broadband and dial-up
Subscribers and speeds
Chapter 2 – Mobile voice and data services
Mobile telecommunications infrastructure
GSM Mobile networks
CDMA Mobile networks
3G Mobile Networks
Hutchison
Optus
Telstra
Vodafone
Mobile Take-up
Chapter 3 – Fixed voice services
Fixed voice availability and take-up
Universal Service Obligation
Residential and Small Business VoIP Service Providers
Internet Service Providers providing fixed voice services
PSTN Market
Satellite Voice
Payphones
Chapter 4 – Broadcast services
Commercial Television Services
National Television Services
Digital Television
Subscription Television Services
Community Television Services
Commercial Radio Services
National Radio Services
Community Radio Services
Narrowcasting
Datacasting
Appendix A: Basic network architecture
Telecommunications Local Access Networks
Copper Wires
Optical fibre
Glossary
Communications Infrastructure and Services Availability in Australia 2006–071
Introduction
About this report
This is a joint report issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The report provides an update to ACMA’s Communications Services Availability in Australia 2005–06 report, and the ACCC’s Telecommunications Infrastructure in Australia 2004.
ACMA and the ACCC have issued a joint report as part of a program of cooperation to minimise overlap in information collection and reporting between the two agencies. In the case of the ACCC, a survey had been issued in previous years to inform the drafting of its Infrastructure report. As a tangible example of the commitment of both agencies to minimising regulatory burdens where possible and appropriate, a survey has not been issued for this report. Future reports may rely on information obtained as a result of the ACCC’s proposed audit of telecommunications infrastructure, subject to the consideration of issues of commercial confidentiality.
The examination of infrastructure and service take-up undertaken in this report is intended to provide an overview of infrastructure and service availability across Australia in residential and small business retail markets. As the ACCC’s reporting series: Telecommunications Competitive Safeguards and the Changes in the Prices Paid for Telecommunications Services considers the issue of pricing, this is not analysed in this report.
Maps included in this report use colour to demonstrate the geographic availability of infrastructure and service provision. It is recommended that this report should be printed in full colour to enable coverage maps to be correctly interpreted. Grey-scale printing may make it difficult to interpret these maps accurately. Alternatively, maps may be viewed on a computer screen to assist correct interpretation.
Information and sources
Information was obtained directly from major telecommunications carriers and carriage service providers (CSPs) on the service types and geographic areas served by them as part of an annual data request by ACMA (referred to as the ‘ACMA data request’ throughout the report). Those carriers and CSPs were selected to participate in the data collection arrangements on the basis that they provide networks that supply access to fixed voice, payphone, mobile or data services.
Other primary sources of data included:
●carrier licensing and numbering allocation information available to ACMA;
●the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) internet activity in Australiasurvey;
●publicly available information on government funding initiatives such as the Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme (HiBIS) and Broadband Connect; and
●news articles and media information about commercial initiatives, actions, network coverage and service take-up was obtained from publicly available sources such as company websites and public announcements.
Feedback
ACMA and the ACCC are interested in feedback from the public and welcome comments on aspects of the report, including the comprehensiveness of the information provided and the report’s style. In particular, each agency is keen to hear from service providers who may not have been included in the report and who are willing to provide information about network coverage and availability of services for future reports. Comments about the report should be sent by email to and .
Executive summary
This report provides an overview of the state of communications infrastructure and service availability in Australia.
The report identifies 19 internet service providers (ISPs) with their own network Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs)[1] providing services to end-users, up from nine ISPs identified in 2004–05. These deployments are primarily driven by ISPs seeking to differentiate their services from the resale of Telstra Wholesale services. The scope and scale of these deployments is creating infrastructure competition and new wholesale opportunities outside of Telstra Wholesale’s provision of internet services. Many of the ISPs identified in ACMA’s Communications Services Availability in Australia 2005–06 report continue to expand the coverage of their networks.
There has been growth in the number of ADSL-enabled exchanges across Australia, with 323 additional exchanges enabled between 30 June 2006 and 31 January 2007. Increased availability of ADSL2+ services has emerged in non-metropolitan areas, with 88 non-metropolitan exchanges identified in January 2007 compared with 22 in June 2006.
Network deployments are helping to provide greater bandwidth to Australian broadband users, with many ISPs deploying ADSL2+ broadband services technically capable of delivering up to 24 megabits per second (Mbit/s) to end users.[2]
Wireless broadband services continue to play an important role in providing broadband services to Australian consumers, with 204 companies providing wireless services in Australia, and more than half of these companies providing services to regional areas.[3]
There are 6.6 million internet subscribers in Australia—3.9 million using broadband and 2.7 million dial-up subscribers.[4]
The report notes the actions of third generation (3G) mobile carriers to upgrade the bandwidth capabilities of their networks, with each mobile carrier now having implemented the high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) protocol to provide improved mobile data services.
In the fixed voice market, this report identifies 369 voice telephony service providers operating in Australia, with 166 companies offering services over the public switched telecommunicationsnetwork (PSTN), 242 companies offering voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services, and 74 companies providing both PSTN and VoIP services.[5]Around 18 per cent of ISPs are offering VoIP services as part of bundled broadband service offers. Appendix A contains a description of telecommunications local access networks
Communications Infrastructure and Services Availability in Australia 2006–071
[1] DSLAMS refer to devices housed in exchanges which enable the copper wire network to provide broadband internet to customer premises.
[2] The data rates available to a particular ADSL customer are affected by many factors, and some by quite significant amounts. The length of copper wire from the exchange and the number and type of other services being used over copper pairs in the same cable by other customers are particularly important factors.
[3] Market Clarity Database, April 2007
[4] ABS, 8153.0 –Internet Activity, Australia, Sep 2006
[5] Market Clarity Database, April 2007