Voice communication over the Internet is also assisting business productivity. Integrated voice and data networks often provide cost savings in addition to per call rates that are typically lower than fixed-line call rates.

The results are from the ACMA's ongoing Telecommunications Today research program about the take-up and use of telecommunications services in Australia.

The program is designed to assist ACMA in its role as industry regulator and is consistent with its regulatory responsibilities to provide information about the telecommunications industry. Information in the reports were drawn from a number of sources including a telephone survey of approximately 2,000 farmers across the major agronomic regions in Australia (the AgScan survey) conducted in October 2006 and April 2007.

This is in addition to: the Sensis Business Index telephone survey of 1,800 SMEs conducted between April 24 and May 31, 2007; the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of individual consumers aged over 14 years; and commissioned work from Woolcott Research, which undertook 12 focus group discussions of residential household consumers recruited from a random sample as well as quantitative research using 1,600 respondents.