Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, in writing, on 8 February 2011:

In respect of the National Broadband Network (NBN), (a) what amount of data is anticipated to be downloaded per household per month, and (b) what are the current market prices for dedicated transit capacity to the Internet; and applying those prices, (i) what will be the monthly transit cost per household for the assumed amount of data downloaded per household, and (ii) given the number of households assumed to be connected to the NBN, what will be the total transit costs incurred.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has provided the following answer to the honourable member’s question:

(a) The NBN Co Corporate Plan 2011-2013 anticipates average data usage per user will increase steadily from 10 gigabytes per month in 2011-12 to around 100 gigabytes per month by 2029-30 (p127). NBN Co referenced its data usage projections against a number of independent sources such as historic data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Cisco’s internet traffic forecasts.

(b) Internet data transit pricing can vary widely depending on the amount and nature of the data being transmitted, the source and destination of the data and the commercial arrangements of individual Retail Service Providers (RSPs).

(i) and (ii) Given the very complex and varying nature of data transit pricing it is not possible for the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy to calculate a monthly data transit cost per household or the total transit costs incurred by RSPs in providing services over the NBN.

NBN Co’s approach to pricing wholesale services is to provide maximum flexibility for RSPs to design products that best meet the need of their customers.