Australia - Broadband - DSL Market Overview and Statistics

Synopsis

While the resale of DSL based services using Telstra’s Unbundled Local Loop (ULL) service was economically unviable for voice services, it did enable platform based competition to provide broadband services. Many firms have installed their own DSLAM infrastructure enabling them to provide fairly high speed Internet services via ADSL2+. This regulatory framework related to ULL has encouraged investment and the number of broadband users with access to services has increased. However a key concern moving forward is the impact on investment in DSLAM infrastructure may become obsolete once Fibre to the Premises (FttP) networks are built. The Governments proposal to build a National Broadband Network (NBN) may invoke changes in the regulatory environment relating to DSL based broadband services. As such the existing regulatory regime will need to be balanced against the emerging regime relating to the fibre network.