In its latest report into the state of the telecommunications market, the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) has found the price the average Aussie pays to connect fell last year.
The watchdog found that telecoms costs dropped in real terms by 6.5 percent during the 2005-6 financial year, with both fixed and mobile services seeing cheaper prices.
Among the communications to experience the greatest cuts were fixed to mobile calls and post-paid GSM services, with renewed competition among operators forcing down the cost of contracts.
Communications minister Senator Helen Coonan, welcomed the news, claiming cheaper prices came as a result of government efforts to liberalise the telecoms market.
The ACCC, however, favoured other reasons as the likely cause of cost cuts. "The decline in average prices could have been influenced by several factors, including greater productivity gains in the telecommunications sector and greater price competition faced by providers of fixed-line services," chairman Graeme Samuel noted in the report.
Businesses in particular have seen their bills tumbling over the last financial year, the ACCC said, with an 8.6 percent decrease overall in telecoms prices, compared to residential customers' 5.5 percent fall in the same period. It's not good news across the board though -- small businesses have seen their fixed line prices actually rise year-on-year.
According to a separate report issued by the ACCC this week, the local telecoms industry is booming. Investment in Australian telecoms has risen from AU$6.3 billion in 2004-5 to AU$6.9 billion 2005-6.
