supply

This page looks at the supply side of telecommunication in Australia and New Zealand, ie the provision of landline, wireless and mobile connectivity and other services.

It covers -

• introduction - industry scope, scale and trends

Profiles of particular operators are provided here.

     introduction

Evolution of the Australian telecommunications industry since the early 1990s has seen the emergence of a range of carriers, although most traffic and most revenue goes to a handful of organisations.

At the beginning of 1999, there were over 25 licensed telecommunications carriers controlling facilities in Australia and New Zealand. Around one thousand ISPs and other entities used those facilities to provide services to business, institutional and residential markets.

By June 2003 there were 94 licensed carriers. Telstra remained the only licensed carrier with a ubiquitous presence across Australia, providing 10.3 million fixed standard telephone services. Optus had approximately 1.1 million services connected to its network.

The mobile telecommunications sector continued to experience the largest growth in Australian telecommunications, with the ACA estimating that the sector contributes over $5 billion annually to the economy. At the end of 2002-03 there were approximately 14.3 million mobile phone services in operation in Australia, up by 12.6% since June 2002 to reach a penetration of 71.9% (ie mobile phone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants). Most growth during 2002-03 involved pre-paid services (around three out of four new mobile subscriptions). Around 3.95 billion SMS were sent in 2002-03, up 44% on the preceding year.

The ACA somewhat problematically estimated that in 2002-03 the 1997 telecommunications reforms resulted in "consumption benefits of $5.7 billion for the nation as a whole across the range of goods and services consumed by all households", with benefits to small business estimated at $1.8 billion.

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