More Australians opting for broadband: IDC

Australians are increasingly opting for broadband, with industry analyst IDC predicting one in three internet users will have broadband connections by the end of the year.

By 2007 the analyst expects the ratio of dial up to broadband connections to be one to one. In 2009 broadband is expected to surpass dial up and make up two-thirds of all internet connections.

The figures are the result of a report entitled, "Australia Broadband Market Sizing and Forecast, 2004-2009 Time to Stuff the Pipes."

The broadband market is entering a land-grab phase where all Broadband Service Providers (BSPs) are preparing dial-up migration plans and competitive commercial bundles, the industry analyst said in a statement.

IDC believes IPTV, HDTV and set-top boxes would become the digital media outlets, forcing BSPs rethink their strategies.

Landry Fevre, IDC research director for telecommunications and consumer digital markets, said devices, content and distribution would be intertwined by both BSPs and Consumer Electronics (CE) manufacturers.

"BSPs and Consumer Electronics (CE) manufacturers will compete for the same digital home market to fence off declining ARPU (average revenue per user) and commoditisation of devices respectively," he said.

"A few examples of emerging devices and service integration are the combination of the iPod and iTunes, BSPs and home networking and IPTV set top boxes with DVR and Video on Demand (VoD) capabilities."