Unusual for a developed country, Australia’s mobile internet access speeds are higher than its fixed network speeds. In May 2020, the average mobile internet download speed in Australia was 67.6 Mbps, while fixed network average was 45.9 Mbps.
The issue there is not coverage, in a direct sense, but coverage might play a role. Australia is a continent-sized country, and Australia’s population is mostly clustered around its sea coast. That means lots of hard-to-cover areas in the interior where infrastructure is expensive.
As is common in many rural areas, mobile infrastructure costs less to deploy than fixed networks. According to one recent analysis, fiber-to-home costs per location were about $668 in an urban or suburban setting, but $3656 in rural areas with 63 homes per square mile. Costs rise exponentially for areas with less-dense populations.
The National Broadband Network is the sole fixed network facilities provider, and its average speeds are, for that reason, identical to the country’s average fixed network access speeds. When completed, the NBN will cover about 90 percent of Australian premises. The other 10 percent will be supplied by satellite.
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