Although the largest ISPs dominate the market, and although Internet use is concentrated in the cities, a variety of ISP types continue to thrive in Australia's unique ecosystem.

by ISP-Planet Staff [March 23, 2001]

A report says that the eight largest ISPs in Australia have a combined total of 2.3 million subscribers, or 60% of Australia's 3.849 million Internet population. The report was released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a government agency, on March 21, 2001.

Australia's online population total includes 3.4 million residential subscribers and 432,000 subscribers from business and government.

With a population of under 20 million living in an area roughly the size of the United States, Australia presents unique challenges to ISPs.

Life for ISPs is getting tougher, as the number of ISPs fell for the first time during the year 2000, from a peak of about 800 to the 718 counted in the report.

The bush and the city
The urban/rural divide may be even larger in Australia than in other nations. Urban users in Capital city Statistical Divisions (SDs) comprise 75% of subscribers, while rural users comprise only 1.4% of subscribers. The remote island of Tasmania accounted for only 76,000 subscribers.

The majority of the online population lives in the urbanized states in the Southeast. New South Wales and Victoria, the states that are smallest in land area but have the most population and wealth, together account for 2.321 million subscribers. (A map of Australia is available here.)

Australia's ISP ecosystem
The survey separates Australia's 718 ISPs into five categories:

• 8 Very large ISPs (with more than 100,000 subscribers) which provide Internet access to 60% (2.3 million) of all Internet subscribers.
  
  
• 28 Large ISPs (with 10,001 to 100,000 subscribers) with 23% (0.9 million) of subscribers.
  
  
• 173 Medium ISPs (with 1,001 to 10,000 subscribers) with 13% (0.5 million) of subscribers.
  
  
• 377 Small ISPs (with 101 to 1,000 subscribers) with 4% (0.2 million) of subscribers.
  
  
• 132 Very small ISPs (with 100 or fewer subscribers) with only 0.1% (4,400) of subscribers.

Small businesses are the most numerous. 473 ISPs (66% of all ISPs) have operations at only one POP. Therefore, although the largest ISPs rule the roost, it appears that niche players continue to thrive.

Most Australian ISPs are involved in e-commerce. 93% provide webhosting services, while 48% provide secure access transaction capabilities.

 

	ISPs	POPs	Access lines	Subscribers (thousands)
New South Wales	299	738	176,078	1,301
Victoria	267	505	148,583	1,020
Queensland	177	427	96,035	771
South Australia	78	176	28,324	246
Western Australia	113	233	47,891	318
Tasmania	30	66	8,458	76
Northern Territory	17	30	3,183	30
Australian Capital Territory	58	69	13,093	86
Total for Australia	718	2,244	521,645	3,849

— End