Australia has the least affordable entry-level access to broadband among developed economies, according to a new report.
Australia was last out of 36 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development members on entry-level fixed-broadband affordability.
Among the full list of 83 countries, Australia was 67th for entry-level broadband tariffs with countries like Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Colombia worse.
Labor asked the federal Parliamentary Library to compile second quarter 2019 data from UK-based broadband market analytics firm Point Topic.
The entry-level price for a 12 megabits per second broadband connection in Australia is between $40 to $45 a month.
BROADBAND INTERNET AFFORDABILITY
| COUNTRY | OECD ENTRY LVL TARIFF |
|---|---|
| Japan Sweden Korea, Republic of Estonia Lithuania United States United Kingdom Slovak Republic Poland Israel Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Norway Canada Netherlands Austria Belgium Turkey New Zealand Iceland Greece Hungary Portugal Latvia Spain Ireland Italy Mexico Switzerland Slovenia Chile Luxembourg Australia | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 |
Source: Commonwealth Parliamentary Library / Point Topic data August 2019
‘Given the concerns of the ACCC, consumer groups, and this recent Point Topic data, ensuring entry-level broadband prices are affordable should be a priority,’ she told AAP on Wednesday.
‘It’s time the government stopped playing the role of a disingenuous bystander that is conveniently uninterested in the problems they have created, and instead demonstrated some leadership in addressing these challenges.’
In August, an Infrastructure Australia audit found the technology mix for the national broadband network would deliver varied outcomes for users and may result in higher costs or lower-quality services.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims has also raised concerns about the rise in the cost of accessing the NBN.
Australia’s $51billion National Broadband Network is on track to be completed by 2020, according to NBN Co.
NBN Co recently commissioned Alpha Beta for a comprehensive study of broadband affordability which compared broadband prices to household income.
It found Australians enjoy the seventh-most affordable broadband services when compared to 22 countries.
‘It’s also important to note that NBN’s wholesale broadband prices have not increased, not even by CPI, since our wholesale pricing was set around eight years ago,’ an NBN Co spokesman told AAP.
He said Alpha Beta’s research found since 2000, Australia’s cost of living rose 63 per cent while telecommunications prices fell six per cent.
Source: scooph.com
