good news for sector

Looks like the "broadband wont be ready for another five years" debate is over - making statements from QFX and DES CEO's very shortsighted. This is the line those two keep pushing to defend their bricks n mortar businesses - as the QFX model was out of date when launched, and DES is reconciling with itself becuase its bricks n mortar is the majority of its revenues (not bad thing, just not 'online')

Article in today's commsday - DSL2 is now prevalent Australia wide - note that TPG has 150Gb download limits on some plans (ie 180 ReelTime Movies!!!)

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Telstra is back on top as the country’s most widely spread high-speed broadband provider, surging
past a coterie of smaller rivals with rapid DSLAM deployments over the past twelve months. In August
2006, Telstra didn’t rank in the top-five ADSL2+ providers, a list dominated by iiNet, Optus
and TPG Internet. It now ranks first, running ADSL2+ at up to 24Mbps in 476 exchanges, ahead of
Optus (346) and iiNet (286). TPG has more than doubled its coverage to 192 exchanges.
Telstra’s revival follows a year of considerable hype around broadband investment and despite
the company refusing to activate services in regional exchanges yet to attract competitor investment. There are now 19 DSLAM operators in Australia working out of a total 479 exchanges, although the majority are metro-focussed.
Presenting the company’s latest market analysis, Telsyte managing director Warren Chaisatien told CommsDay, “debates round broadband technology… have significantly altered market dynamics in the past 12 months.” He added, “the market today has changed markedly compared to 12 to 15 months ago. At that time, smaller players like iiNet were leading the high-speed broadband market. Telstra was very slow with launching ADSL2+ and has been playing catch-up but because of their deep pockets and national coverage it is now dominant again.”

DSL2 Exchanges
Telstra 476
Optus 346
iiNet 286
TPG 192
PowerTel 134

Note that almost ALL Telstra DSL exchanges are now 8Mb/s equipped.

I think the "broadband" isnt ready argument just died. Consumers will move to these new services (17% already had by Mid this year according to the ACMA).