New Telstra Research Reveals Australians Working Outside The Office On The Rise

New Telstra Research Reveals Australians Working Outside The Office on The Rise

World's fastest national mobile broadband service predicted to increase demand
for mobile working

EMBARGOED UNIL MONDAY 18 OCTOBER The world's fastest national mobile broadband device, the Telstra BigPond Ultimate USB, today launches to the wider consumer market and removes the need for Australians to be in the office for the sake of high-speed internet.

Previously available only to selected corporate and SME customers, the device is up to twice as fast as Telstra's current fastest Next G modem and offers coverage in Australia's capital city CBDs and associated airports, selected metropolitan hubs and more than 100 regional centres.

Telstra Executive Director Consumer, Rebekah O'Flaherty said the launch comes as new research uncovers better technology and increased flexibility of employers are the top two reasons why Australians are now working remotely more.

"Our research shows almost half of all working Australians are spending more time doing business outside the workplace than they were five years ago and they're attributing that to better technology and increased flexibility of employers," Rebekah said.

"Technology plays a huge part in allowing Aussies to work outside the office and embrace better work life balance. The trend shows we could well be witnessing a cultural shift in the way we work."

Almost 80 per cent of Australian employees surveyed say they would take up the option of working outside the workplace if their employer offered this along with a fast, reliable mobile broadband network.

However not all Australian bosses are keeping up, with only 60 per cent of employers surveyed saying they allowed staff to work outside the office. Of those who didn't, one in five said this was because they don't trust their employees to work as hard when outside the workplace.

In reality, employers may be missing out on increased productivity, as the research shows more than half of people that work outside the office say they're just as productive, if not more, when working remotely.

Researchers surveyed more than 2,000 working Australians and found:
One quarter spend five or more hours a week working outside the workplace.
Almost 15 per cent are spending 10 or more hours a week, or the equivalent of 13 full working weeks a year, working outside the office.
Men work outside the office more than women one in five men work 10 or more hours a week from outside the workplace, compared to only one in 10 women.
Baby Boomers spend the most time working outside of a traditional workplace. Nearly one in ten working 18-34 year olds work more than 10 hours from outside the office, compared to nearly one in five 45 and over.

"Our research found the increase in mobile working has actually allowed people to spend more time with their family and friends," Rebekah said. "Three quarters of people who work remotely say it's given them the ability to get the work done and still make it to personal occasion like school concerts."

In contrast, more than 60 per cent say they have had to miss out on personal events to be in the workplace, with birthdays and family occasions the most common to be neglected. Overall, men were more likely than women to miss an event in their personal life to be in the workplace. In particular, men were seven per cent more likely than women to miss an anniversary, a child's concert or school event, but were 10 per cent less likely to miss a sporting match.

The Telstra BigPond Ultimate USB Modem is the latest jump in mobile broadband technology to be made available on Australia's largest and fastest national mobile broadband network the Telstra Next G network. Two thousand devices launched earlier this year for Telstra business customers and today's launch means the Ultimate USB Modem is now available to consumers across Australia.

The benefits of the new Telstra BigPond Ultimate USB Modem include:
Up to twice as fast as Telstra's current fastest Next G modem in selected coverage areas.
Coverage available in Australia's capital city CBDs and associated airports, selected metropolitan hubs and more than 100 regional centres. Visit www.telstra.com/mobilebbcoverage to see the Next G speed capability in your location.
Typical download speeds range from 1.1Mbps to 20Mbps in selected areas*.

Pricing and availability:
The Telstra BigPond Ultimate USB Modem is available on a range of Post-Paid Mobile Broadband plans, when customers sign up to a 24 month contact. Additionally from today, customers on Telstra's high-end BigPond Mobile Liberty plans will enjoy more value: 7GB for $59.95 (an additional 1GB for $20 less per month on the previous 6GB offer) and 12GB for $89.95 (an extra 2GB for $30 less per month on the previous 10GB offer).

Monthly price
on a 24 month
plan.

BigPond
Mobile
Liberty
400MB
$29.95

BigPond
Mobile
Liberty
1GB
$39.95

BigPond
Mobile
Liberty
3GB
$49.95

BigPond
Mobile
Liberty
7GB
$59.95

BigPond
Mobile
Liberty
12GB
$89.95

For more information, including Ultimate speed coverage areas, visit www.bigpond.com

About the Research: This research was conducted online by Pure Profile on behalf of Telstra in October, 2010 on a representative sample of 2,034 working Australians, aged over 18, from across Australia in metropolitan and regional areas. Please see fact sheet for further statistics.

Media contact: Peter Taylor 0439 460 335
www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/media-centre/

REF: 375/2010

* Outside the selected areas, the remaining metropolitan areas of all capitals cities and many other regional
and rural locations support typical download speeds from 550kbps to 8Mbps, and elsewhere typical speeds
are from 550kbps to 3Mbps. Actual speeds vary due to factors such as distance from the base station, local
conditions, user numbers, hardware and software configuration, download source and other factors.

SOURCE: Telstra