Tasmania's IT industry has welcomed a discussion paper by the competition regulator into greater transparency on broadband speeds.
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has raised concerns about unclear information regarding broadband performance advertising and is taking submissions to address the gaps.
Managing director of telecommunications provider Tasmanet Joel Harris said greater accountability was needed on service providers to inform consumers on the stability of their internet.
“Traffic class four, which is pretty much what everyone is selling in Tasmania, is based on peak performance and it’s a best effort scenario, people should be absolutely aware of what they’re buying.
“And I really think that over the years, the advertising of products has been about what it might do, and not what it definitely will do and it’s caused a lot of problems particularly with small businesses,” he said.
Telstra Tasmania area general manager Michael Patterson said the organisation would be considering issues put forward in the discussion paper and provide its own submission next month.
NBN data released in June showed only 10 per cent of internet users in Tasmania had chosen a plan which offered the highest speeds of 100 Mbps download and 40 Mbps upload.
The data showed 86 per cent of users in fixed line areas were on a plan offering speeds of 25 Mpbs or lower.
Yet as a nation we continue to download more and more each year.
The 2015 Australian Bureau of Statistics Internet Activity report showed Australians downloaded 6 million terabytes of data, showing a year-on-year increase of 45 per cent.
TasICT chief executive officer William Kestin said some internet providers had not purchased enough data to meet consumer demand.
“This ties into the NBN conversation, the country voted for the (federal govt) Liberals that very clearly said the NBN was going to be a mix of technologies,” he said.
Information, Technology and Innovation Minister Michael Ferguson said the state government supported the discussion paper.
A spokesperson for the office of federal government Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said:
”The Government looks forward to considering the outcomes of the ACCC’s current consultation on retail broadband speed claims and performance information.”
