700,000 Australian premises still unable to access fixed broadband services, rural and regional customers still missing out

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has released a new report looking at the availability of broadband in different areas of Australia, revealing that 700,000 Australian premises still cannot access a fixed broadband service.

The Department of Communications document, titled Broadband Availability and Quality Report, was released alongside a new website, called MyBroadband, which allows users to search for the quality of broadband available at a given premises.

Among the key findings of the report, around 700,000 premises – representing 6% of all Australian properties – are unable to access any fixed broadband services.

Overall, 91% of all Australian premises (9.9 million premises) can access an ADSL broadband service over Telstra’s copper network. The report also notes 28% (3.1 million) have access to high-speed services (including cable internet, high-speed fixed wireless or fibre-to-the-home).

However, of those able to access an ADSL service, 3.7 million are limited to speeds of 9 megabits per second or less, and

Aside from fixed-line internet, 81% of households have access to 3G mobile broadband and 59% have access to 4G.

The report also rates Telstra distribution areas (DA) based on the percentage of households with access to at least one fixed broadband technology, with each region given a rating of A (80-100% of premises had access to at least one form of technology), B (60-80%), C (40-60%), D (20-40%) and E (0-20%).

A DA represents a group of about 100 to 200 premises, with a number of DAs served by a single exchange making up an ESA (exchange service area).

Unsurprisingly, the report says users the more densely populated states and territories on the eastern seaboard have better access to broadband than their interstate cousins.

“The more densely populated and urbanised Australian Capital Territory has the largest percentage of premises with the highest (A) broadband availability rating (94%).

“Similarly the relatively densely populated states of Victoria and New South Wales also have generally high broadband availability ratings. In contrast the sparsely populated Northern Territory has the lowest percentage of premises with the highest broadband availability rating (60%).”

The report also states that it is predominantly rural and regional areas that are missing out on high-quality broadband services

“As noted previously, 80% of all DAs covering approximately 9.2 million premises achieve an A rating for availability. These premises are primarily concentrated in major cities (73%), followed by regional (26%) and remote Australia (1%).

“Of the 2% of DAs covering almost 211,300 premises that achieve a B rating for availability, the majority are located in major cities and inner regional areas (76%), followed by outer regional (22%) and remote parts of Australia (1%).

“A further 1% of all DAs (covering 153,100 premises) achieve a C rating for availability.

“The majority of these premises are located in regional Australia (65%), while a third (33%) are located in major cities and 2% are located in remote Australia.

“In the 9% of DAs (954,800 premises) that achieve a D rating for fixed broadband availability, 47% are located within major cities and 49% in regional Australia.

“5% of DAs achieving a D availability rating are in remote Australia.”

In a statement, Turnbull says the federal government will use the report’s findings in prioritising areas for future NBN rollouts.

“The report is the first of its kind to be undertaken by an Australian Government, with data drawn from all major Australian telecommunication carriers. It describes the broadband technologies available as well as the speed that can typically be achieved over each available technology platform.

“NBN Co has been provided with the analysis and will prioritise work in under-served areas where this is logistically and commercially feasible.”