Internet Broadband Slowing Australia
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Australia’s economic development is being dragged down by the slow and restrictive rollout of broadband Internet access in regional areas, according to an annual State and Regions report.

Commissioned by the Australian Local Government Association, the report finds Australia lags behind many developed countries because it provides poor download speeds and area coverage, as well as expensive access.

Higher broadband coverage in the bush would add close to $1 billion to Australia’s annual regional output, economists found, and the cost of improving the rollout would be as little as $3 billion.

“If Australia falls behind, an increasing number of exporters may well feel that they cannot operate as efficiently in the supply chains as other companies elsewhere in the world who do have access to best-practice infrastructure,” the report by consultant National Economics says.

“This will result in the enterprise being dropped from the supply chain at the cost to the nation’s export performance.”

A recent OECD study of broadband penetration found Australia had improved its ranking on the international league table for broadband penetration, but still remained below the OECD average.