Australian Broadband Guarantee Research Survey

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has issued a Request for Tender for an "Australian Broadband Guarantee Research Survey". The Australian Broadband Guarantee provides subsidies for broadband (512Kbps download and 128Kbps upload) in rural and remote areas. The survey is to measure awareness of, and demand for, broadband and the Guarantee program. Curiously the survey doesn't seem to be intended to see if the program actually works.

The Department requires an experienced market and/or social research organisation with experience in project management and primary research, including questionnaire design, survey interviews, and data processing to conduct a survey of consumers in rural and remote areas of Australia and undertake analysis of the survey results.

The survey will relate to the awareness of, and demand for, the Australian Broadband Guarantee program, and broadband services more generally, in rural and remote Australia.

The primary target audiences for the survey are residents over the age of 18 years and small businesses outside of metropolitan Australia. For the purposes of the survey, metropolitan areas are as defined in the Australian Broadband Guarantee program guidelines.

Non-English speaking background and Indigenous audiences should be included as represented in the community.

The Australian Broadband Guarantee provides all Australian households and small businesses with access to metro-comparable broadband services.

Under the Australian Broadband Guarantee, a metro-comparable broadband service is defined as any service that offers a minimum 512Kbps download and 128Kbps upload data speed, 3GB per month data usage at a total cost of $2500 GST inclusive over three years (including installation and connection fees).

The program offers financial assistance in the form of incentive payments to registered internet service providers to supply metro-comparable broadband services to residential and small business premises, where such services would not otherwise be available.

More information on the Australian Broadband Guarantee is available from www.dbcde.gov.au/abg.

This research activity will assist the Department to address the following two Key Performance Indicators for the program, as set out in the Portfolio Budget Statement:

- Consumers across rural and remote Australia are broadly aware of the Australian Broadband Guarantee services.

- Take-up of services is consistent with general consumer demand for broadband.

The Department envisages that the survey will be telephone based, with the possibility of focus groups, however the Department will consider alternative solutions for conducting the Survey.

The Department requires the successful Tenderer to:

a) Develop an appropriate survey methodology that:

• segments consumers by demographic profile, Internet access, and other relevant factors

• sets out a benchmark framework that serves as a basis for comparison in expected future surveys

• provides details of the proposed sample size and sourcing of respondents

b) Perform the survey in accordance with the agreed methodology

c) Analyse survey data

d) Provide draft reports for discussion that establish agreed benchmarks for future measurements. The Department will require the opportunity to comment on the draft report and have those comments addressed in the final report.

e) Provide a final report and presentation to the Department. The final report must be submitted electronically and a total of six bound and one unbound copies are required. ...

From: Australian Broadband Guarantee Research Survey, DCON/08/83, Category 43000000 - Information Technology Broadcasting and Telecommunications, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, 30-Sep-2008