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The OECD collects data on broadband pricing and speeds and publishes the results on the OECD broadband portal and in OECD publications such as the Communications Outlook 2009. The methodology/criteria are available on the OECD broadband portal at: http://www.oecd.org/sti/ict/broadband/prices.
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How often does the OECD do its collection?
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We do a survey of broadband offers once each year in the autumn.
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How are the operators selected?
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We collect all published offers from a minimum of three operators in a country. We select the largest incumbent telecommunication firm for DSL, the largest cable company (if there are cable networks), and a third operator using DSL, Cable or FTTH. In countries without a cable network we also select the second-largest provider.
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Why do some countries include data from more than three operators?
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There are a number of reasons why there can be more than three operators listed for a country. First, some operators sell services under multiple ISP brand names. Second, some operators jointly market their plans with other operators in the same market. Third, member governments occasionally provide the OECD with data from additional operators as part of the review process.
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Does the OECD pick and choose among offers promoted by a company?
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We gather all published, residential broadband offers available on the operator’s website. We include high-end offers which may be geared to businesses as long as they are available to residential customers and are not published under a separate business heading. There are cases where we include offers with similar characteristics from the same operator if they are marketed differently (e.g. different names) or are available over a different network (e.g. DSL, cable or FTTH)
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Why do some operators in Italy only have 2 offers but other operators in countries like Australia can have more than 30?
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We collect data on all published residential offers available on the operator’s website. Some operators have chosen to simplify their broadband offerings to two, typically a lower and higher speed plan. In other countries, operators have a large number of offers because, in addition to offering various speed tiers, they differentiate plans based on the included data allowance. The price subscribers pay each month depends on the advertised speed of the connection and the size of the data allowance included in the subscription.
The data is always provided to OECD member governments for review before publication.
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Why would the speeds reported by the OECD be higher than what I see when I test my connection online?
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The OECD reports the speeds advertised by operators but these can be significantly higher than the actual speeds users encounter for a number of technical reasons. Therefore, the pricing data is representative of what operators are stating their lines should be capable of, not necessarily what speeds users actually receive.
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Why does the OECD publish data on the “average advertised speed”?
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The OECD provides descriptive statistics about the data collection for each country and for each technological platform. The minimum, average and maximum published prices and advertised speeds are given to help readers understand the spread of offers available in a given market. The OECD cannot weight offers according to number of subscribers taking the different offers since these data are usually commercially confidential.
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How should the average advertised speeds and prices be interpreted?
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The average advertised speed and price are not a representation of the average subscription taken in a market but rather an average of the offers the surveyed operators are promoting. This distinction is important for a correct interpretation of the data.
The range of broadband prices (min and max) across surveyed operators is a reflection of the prices that subscribers are actually paying in the market. These data are available as items 4c and 4d on the portal.
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Where can I find a list of the surveyed offers the OECD used?
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A list of all the surveyed offers is available in the Communications Outlook 2009 and the table can be downloaded in Excel format for free at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/626516135685
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