The Australian consumer watchdog has handed UK-based SamKnows a $6.5 million deal for its broadband speed monitoring program.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced its plan to monitor the country’s broadband speeds and in April 2017, with the Federal Government revealing it would fund the program.
At the time the regulator said the program was expected to cost around $7 million.
The national broadband performance monitoring and reporting program was developed to provide Australian consumers with accurate and independent information about broadband speeds
The project will see broadband speeds recorded across 4,000 Australian homes over the next four years.
More than 8,000 households have signed up to participate on the program according to ACCC chairman Rod Sims.
ACCC plans to have 2,000 households monitored during the first year of the program and the first results reported by the end of the first quarter of 2018.
“Our Measuring Broadband Australia program is going to be a real game changer for internet users and for the broadband market, especially as consumers shop around for NBN services,” Sims said.
Most of the households to be included in the program will be connected to the NBN, and this will form the basis of ACCC reporting on retail broadband plans.
A small number of households that are connected to alternative, nbn-like networks and legacy networks will also be recruited to for the program to provide a broader view of the state of broadband performance around the country.
The ACCC published a request for tender on AusTender on 30 May 2017 and was closed on 26 June 2017.
The contract was awarded to SamKnows after a competitive tender. The company builds and provides internet performance management hardware to more than 40 countries on behalf of telecommunication regulators and internet services providers (ISP).
Consumers interested in participating can express their interest here.
