p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- In Australia, P2P is Big Business, and we all know »»»

• Not to download movies using P2P.
• Downloading is a crime.
• Stealing movies is a crime.
• Stealing Music is a crime.

But is that it?

Or do P2P activities in Australia represent 5% of the country’s GDP?

Let’s first see where you fit into the picture »»»

• Are you an Ipod owner?
• Do you have an MP3 player?
• Do you have a computer?
• Do you have a smartphone with x GB storage for movies and music?
• Do you have a CD-burner in your computer?
• Is your computer connected to the Internet?

If you answered Yes to more than two of the above, congratulations. Because you’re no doubt among the 57% of Australians who utilize 87% of the internet infrastructure and bandwidth in this country to download music, movies and other items without paying.

So if 57% of Australians download files, how does that help the economy?

Well, let’s look at it another way.

In other words, in Australia P2P, is worth more than the entire combined revenue base of the member companies of the various industry bodies trying to stop P2P.

Multiple those figures by the population of the rest of the world and you have an industry globally that adds up to $10,355,319,277,091

In other words, basically, P2P is worth three times more revenue than the cost of the Global Financial Crisis.

Notes:

Assumptions.

The cost of the telecommunications infrastructure in Australia is A.

The cost of maintaining that infrastructure is B.

That infrastructure generates C in wages, PAYE tax and individual taxation.

To utilize that infrastructure you require termination CPE (Customer Premises Equipment).

CPE includes, telephone handsets, modems (dial-up/ADSL), Nat routers, satellite dishes, WiFi devices. Items F through I.

If 50% of Australians have a computer, let’s call that D.

Most computers are cycled every thirty six months, therefore Annual replacement of D is valued at $330.00 on the basis the purchase price is $1000.00

We assume 20% of Australians have a laptop. E

If 100% percent of Australians have a mobile Phone, let’s call that J.

If 5.5 million homes of 7.2 million are online, that generates a monthly subscriber value of F (for this exercise, we assume a monthly total of $39.95 per sub.)  K

44% of Mobile Phones have data plans and approximately 24% of those phones utilize their internet connection.

The average mobile phone data consumption is therefore worth approx. $18.00 per month. L.

All services are billed between the wholesale carrier and the retails Service Provider. M.

Sources: Telstra, ACMA, ABS, Various industry sales results.

Tom Koltai – p2pnet
[Koltai is an economist in Sydney Australia. He's says he's been online for 26 years, has run several ISPs and, "lobbied governments in four countries to prevent Internet restrictive usage legislation from being enacted". He says he's a strong believer in P2P, "as being a technological requirement to fully exploit the convergence of telephony with computers and remove the last barriers to human communication and interaction".]

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May, 2009