Broadband Market Enters a New Era Following the NBA Strategic Review, New Report Launched

Since being implemented in 2012, Australia's NBN has undergone significant changes. The late-2013 strategic review of the NBN, commissioned by a newly elected government, established a very different framework. Instead of 93% of the population being covered by FttP, the new architecture has called for a hybrid network incorporating FttP and FttN, and utilising existing DSL and HFC plant.

Overall, the initial development of the NBN reflected a serious response to the relatively poor quality of Australia's broadband infrastructure. It was also a response to the intransigence of the dominant telco, Telstra. The government was minded to change its broadband infrastructure plan from a regional to a national focus, which to a degree has been linked to the development of the digital economy supporting policies relating to e-commerce, e-health, e-education and smart grid infrastructure. These are all aimed at utilising the NBN for a myriad of purposes beyond broadband.

Although the business market in Australia was quick to embrace broadband, mainly to access faster data speeds, a significant proportion of smaller operators has yet to establish an online presence, and by early 2014 only about 38% had a business website.

The government's '_Broadband Availability and Quality_' report, published in December 2013, showed that 1.4 million premises (13% of the total) across many areas of the country had no adequate broadband infrastructure. These areas include regional and remote regions but also pockets within urban communities. Given the state of broadband availability and speeds, many businesses still depend on mobile rather than fixed-line broadband. A growing number in areas where access to the NBN has been made available have switched to fibre broadband services, which enable these companies to compete in the global economy more effectively. The faster speeds of fibre infrastructure will see the rapid adoption by businesses of services such cloud computing, online interaction, and media conferencing.

By the end of 2014 about a third of Australia's mobile subscribers will be on LTE networks. Telstra took the lead in this market, followed by Optus and Vodafone which launched services during 2013. These MNOs have invested in spectrum and network upgrades to bolster network capacity, while the geographic extension of LTE will see wider take-up from consumers in coming years. Although the MNOs will be expecting a greater return on their investments, partly by charging a premium for LTE services, price competition will keep revenue growth low.

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