Australia's broadband penetration is healthy regardless of world ranking
- — 24 September, 2007 15:00
The war of legitimacy that erupted several months back over whether the OECD's broadband ranking for Australia (at 16) is more accurate than Market Clarity's ranking (as high as 6) is unnecessary, according to research by Ovum.
"Australia's broadband growth rate is in-line with other developed countries" said Ovum's research director David Kennedy. "Our growth rate is higher than Canada's and comparable to western European nations."
The broadband penetration for Australia, in terms of total broadband for total population, is experiencing a growth rate similar to Ireland -- one of Ovum's top 10 developing nations in terms of broadband growth.
"By 2010 we expect Australia to have a broadband penetration of 69%" said Kennedy. "Obviously growth rate will diminish to around 11% as more people adopt broadband but again this is comparable to other developed nations."
Despite this positive growth Australia will still have a broadband penetration of only 49% by the end of the year, indicating that while Australia is in a good position with broadband growth compared to the rest of the developed world, it is still significantly behind countries such as the US (57%), Singapore (76%) and Korea (81%).
Ovum's statistics mean that the exact ranking of Australia compared to the rest of the world isn't as important as ensuring Australia's continued broadband growth.
