Over the past year, the number of broadband subscribers in the OECD increased 26 per cent from 157 million in December 2005 to 197 million in December 2006. This growth increased broadband penetration rates in the OECD from 13.5 in December 2005 to 16.9 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants one year later.

The $162.5 million Australian Broadband Guarantee builds on the HiBIS and Broadband Connect subsidy programs that have already provided broadband access to over 1 million Australian premises. The Guarantee will target difficult blackspot areas to ensure that all Australians can access affordable broadband regardless of where they live.

The Australian broadband network continues to grow rapidly despite the current "noise and bluster" about telecommunications competition and access regulation, according to the ACCC chair, Graeme Samuel, in this speech at the ATUG Annual Conference in Sydney.

Take-up of broadband services in Australia continues to increase, according to the latest ACCC Snapshot of Broadband Deployment. The report estimates that as at 30 September 2006, there were 3,639,700 total broadband connections across Australia.

The report says broadband is yet to have its greatest effect on the economy, and argues that in the long run its greatest effect is likely to be on person-to-person communications rather than in delivering one-way, television-style services.