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Price of 40 hours of Internet use at peak times
A number of factors are critical in influencing a consumer's decision to go online, key amongst these are interest and cost. Both factors are main barriers to the broader diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Australian homes. In terms of barriers to take up of the Internet, cost more specifically includes the cost of purchasing Internet access technologies (mainly a computer) and the ongoing cost of accessing online content (ISP subscriber costs, etc), while interest relates to the utility a consumer would gain from undertaking activities such as banking, shopping, and general correspondence online. The following chart and the next chart (charges for a basket of national leased lines of 2 megabits per second) benchmark the cost of accessing the Internet in OECD countries, consequently data is not available for Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Furthermore, although the reference period for the data is now more than 12 months old, it is one of the few international comparisons relating to the cost of Internet access available. In terms of the indicator "Price of 40 hours of Internet use at peak times," Australia was ranked 3rd cheapest at September 2000 ($US42.9). The US was the top ranked nation with $US23.8 per 40 hours of Internet use at peak times, followed by New Zealand ($US38.4). Of the 11 benchmarked countries, Ireland was the most expensive country for Internet access ($US75.4). Data for Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan for this indicator was not available. According to the 2001 OECD STI Scoreboard, countries which have unmetered local calls are among the least expensive in terms of cost of Internet access and generally have the highest household Internet penetration levels.
|
Score | |
| Points | |
| US | 100 |
| New Zealand | 63 |
| Australia | 56 |
| South Korea | 53 |
| Italy | 52 |
| Germany | 47 |
| Sweden | 41 |
| France | 40 |
| UK | 39 |
| Norway | 37 |
| Ireland | 32 |