3G in Australia: HSPA mobile broadband marches on

In Australia, mobile broadband connections for netbooks, laptops, PCs and other devices grew around 81% in the year to December 2009. However, competition is fierce, service differentiation is difficult and operators must continue investing in more capacity to support growth. This report looks at market evolution and future trends of HSPA mobile broadband in Australia.



Report Highlights

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Executive summary
In a nutshell
Key messages
Mobile broadband overview
Rapid rise of mobile broadband to continue
Mobile broadband grows at expense of fixed
Complementary usage common among enterprises
Wireless almost exclusively drives industry broadband connection growth
Operator incentives for broadband substitution are different
Consumer broadband ISPs driven to HSPA by market dynamics
HSPA has strong potential in low speed/low usage Internet connectivity segment
Low Internet connection speed is still common in Australia
Average download volumes are low in Australia
Mobile network capacity is a key barrier to substitution
Other barriers to fixed-to-mobile broadband substitution
Mobile broadband tariffs
Mobile broadband tariffs continue to decline
Fixed and mobile broadband pricing comparison
Prepaid mobile broadband continues to grow strongly
Operator differentiation
Telstra has clearest differentiation
Operators search for ways to differentiate
Australian broadband guarantee
Opportunity for operators
HSPA is the leading mobile data access technology
HSPA has greater scale and coverage
Meeting mobile broadband expectations is important
Operators have set high performance expectations for mobile broadband
Many consumers still don’t want big-screen mobile broadband
Smartphones provide data access needs on the move
Wholesale resellers to invigorate the market
A wholesale market for mobile broadband is also emerging
Mobile VoIP disruption a threat
Mobile broadband and the government’s NBN
NBN will help facilitate mobile broadband development
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List of Tables
Table 1: HSPA mobile broadband data pricing by operator, Jan 2010
Table 2: Lower-end fixed broadband pricing plans in Australia
Table 3: Fixed and mobile broadband comparison
List of Figures
Figure 1: Non-handset mobile broadband connections in Australia
Figure 2: Australia broadband connections by technology
Figure 3: Internet connection speeds in Australia
Figure 4: Average volume of data downloaded per month per connection, by connection type
Figure 5: Average price per GB in tariff plans if complete allowance used
Figure 6: Telstra wireless broadband ARPU
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