In September 2013, the Broadband Commission for Digital Development (established in May 2010 by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)) published a report titled "The State of Broadband 2013: Universalising Broadband" (Report) ( http://www.broadbandcommission.org/Documents/bb-annualreport2013.pdf).
The Report offers some very interesting insights into the development of broadband globally, and how the world is faring against goals created (including the Millennium Development Goals). It is fascinating to learn that:
- Over the last two years, the mobile industry has added one billion more subscriptions
- The number of mobile subscriptions is set to exceed 7 billion and overtake the total world population next year
- Mobile broadband subscriptions are set to reach 7 billion subscriptions by 2018
- Overall, fixed broadband penetration rates remain low (6.1% in developing countries, compared with 27.2% in developing countries in 2013)
It is really important that the Pacific doesn't get left behind!
Some key Pacific statistics
The Report sets out key statistics on the development of broadband worldwide. We summarise the Pacific statistics in the table below.
| Jurisdiction | Do they have a Broadband Plan? | 2012 Statistics Note: * means ITU estimate (world ranking) |
|||
| Fixed BB Penetration | Mobile BB Penetration | Households with Internet (developing countries) | Individuals using Internet | ||
| Australia | National Broadband Network (2010) | 25.1% (78) | 96.2% (6) | N/A | 82.3%* (22) |
| Fiji | National Broadband Policy 2011 | 1.5% (118) | 10.8% (88) | 24.4%* (46) | 33.7%* (108) |
| Kiribati | No | 1.0%* (127) | 0%* (155) | Not available | 10.7%* (150) |
| Nauru | No | 0% (183) | 9.6% (93) | Not available | Not available |
| Papua New Guinea | National ICT and PNG LNG Fibre cable project (2011) | 0.1%* (149) | Not available | 2.7%* (110) | 2.3%* (178) |
| Samoa | National Broadband Spectrum Plan (2010) | Not available | Not available | Not available | 12.9%* (144) |
| Solomon Islands | Planning | 0.4% (137) | 6.3% (99) | 4.2%* (97) | 7.0%* (160) |
| Tonga | Tonga-Fiji Connectivity Project: Pacific Regional Connectivity Program (2011) | 1.4%* (120) | Not available | 12.0%* (67) | 34.9%* (103) |
| Vanuatu | Planning | 1.0% (126) | 0%* (158) | Not available | 10.6%* (151) |
Unfortunately, a lot of the Pacific-related data is cited as unavailable. However, points of note from the available data include:
- Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga have broadband plans in place. The Report cites recent research which indicates that broadband plans are associated with fixed broadband penetration some 2.5% higher on average than countries without plans, and mobile broadband penetration some 7.4% higher on average than countries without plans
- Fiji consistently outperforms the other jurisdictions in terms of penetration, BUT Tonga has the highest percentage of individuals using the internet (34.9%).With the ongoing introduction of undersea cable systems in other jurisdictions (including existing systems in Tonga and Samoa, the Interchange system about to 'go live' in Vanuatu, and the planned introduction of a cable in the Solomon Islands), with the associated increase in available bandwidth and speed, and reduction in costs, we hope that the only direction these statistics can go is up!
- With an updated National Broadband Policy, a proposed National Broadband Network, and continued inbound investment, PNG's percentage of internet users, the lowest of all the Pacific jurisdictions measured, might soon see an increase.
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