The Digital Divide Seems To Remain Pretty Stark and Intractable.

I noticed this last week:

Monday, 11 July 2022 11:51

900,000 households do not have an in-home internet connection: ACCAN

By Kenn Anthony Mendoza

Approximately 900,000 Australian households still do not have an in-home internet connection despite an increase in remote learning, telehealth services, and work from home arrangements in the last two years, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network has revealed.

Its latest policy position The Future of Broadband warns enduring provisions that safeguard the interests of Australians are needed to protect consumers.

Australians have endured lockdowns, natural disasters, and significant increases to cost of living since the National Broadband Network (NBN) was declared ‘built’ by the Federal Government.

“Such experiences have highlighted just how essential communications technologies are, and how important it is that these technologies are reliable, resilient, and affordable,” comments Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) CEO Andrew Williams.

Citing ACCAN’s research, Williams said 57% of Australians on lower incomes experience difficulty paying broadband services at home.

“This is unacceptable in a country as wealthy as ours,” Williams declared.

“To ensure that the interests of all Australian consumers are protected, there are a number of conditions that need to be met across all fixed broadband networks to ensure that everyone can get and stay connected, not just those who can afford to pay for it,” he suggested.

This would include transparent reporting around hardship arrangements, disconnections, and localised network performance as well as establishing a subsidised broadband service.

Telcos must also provide standard customer service guarantees which protect households from poor customer service such as not keeping appointments.

More here:

https://itwire.com/your-it/900,000-households-do-not-have-an-in-home-internet-connection-accan.html

This seems to be the link to, and summary of, the report referenced:

Around 900,000 Australian households still don’t have in-home internet

Released: 04 July 2022

The affordability and availability of broadband services in Australia has remained a significant problem for many vulnerable communities and people on low incomes. Despite an increase in remote learning, telehealth services and work from home arrangements in the last two years there are still approximately 900,000 Australian households who do not have an in-home internet connection¹.

Launching its latest policy position “The Future of Broadband,” the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is warning that enduring provisions to safeguard the interests of Australians are needed to protect consumers. Since the National Broadband Network was declared ‘built’ by the Federal Government in 2020, Australians have endured lockdowns, natural disasters and more recently, significant increases to the cost of living.

“Such experiences have highlighted just how essential communications technologies are, and how important it is that these technologies are reliable, resilient, and affordable. According to our research, 57% of Australians on lower incomes experience some difficulty paying for broadband services at home². This is unacceptable in a country as wealthy as ours,” said ACCAN CEO, Andrew Williams.

“To ensure that the interests of all Australian consumers are protected, there are a number of conditions that need to be met across all fixed broadband networks to ensure that everyone can get and stay connected, not just those who can afford to pay for it,” he said.

This would include transparent reporting around hardship arrangements, disconnections, and localised network performance as well as establishing a subsidised broadband service. Telco’s must also provide standard customer service guarantees which protect households from poor customer service such as not keeping appointments.

ACCAN is also calling for providers of Public Wi-Fi and Public Interest Programs to expand their services based on community needs, so that people can access the internet regardless of their circumstances.

“There’s currently no regulated reliability framework for broadband networks. Creating such a framework would help to address some of the reliability issues experienced by consumers, particularly if broadband networks were required to report on their reliability performance. Extending this reporting requirement to the retail sector would bring the telco sector into line with other utilities like gas, electricity and water, and would give people greater confidence when it comes to choosing the right provider for them,” said Mr. Williams.

Download:  Future of broadband policy position109.59 KB

Source:

¹ Based on the latest figures from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (2021) How we use the internet and Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022) Snapshot of Australia.

² ACCAN (2021) Addressing Telecommunications Affordability: Evaluating Support for Low Income Consumers

Here is the link:

https://accan.org.au/media-centre/media-releases/1998-900k-households-with-no-internet

In 2022 we seem to have a lot of households on the wrong side of the digital divide and it really has become time – IMVHO – for ways to be found to remedy this situation and really improve the social inclusion of that very large number of people.

The logistics of just how this can be achieved is well above my pay grade but really must be possible!

David.