State of the Australian Internet: Introduction

7:41 Sep 27th, 2009 | 0 notes

The telecommunications industry in Australia is characterized by immense development and progress in wireless technology. Our cell carriers operate nearly solely on 3G bands, with GPRS networks picking up the slack when it’s not available. The archaic CDMA network was switched off several years ago. Competition between the tier one carriers (Telstra, Vodafone, Optus and Three) has driven prices down on mobile broadband and led to a competitive pay-as-you-go market.

However, all this change and progress has come at the price of, in my opinion, the traditional terrestrial internet. In this series of blog posts I will explore choice within the Australian internet market, speed, bandwidth caps, cost, the emerging wireless market, and the future of the consumer market.

In short, the wired broadband market falls short of what consumers expect, what the internet offers and what the rest of the world enjoys. The next few years could define the Australian market as one which plans to keep up with the world, or one which stagnates, free from the diversity and competition demanded by consumers.

Coming soon: Part One: Choice