By Patrick Avenell
JB Hi-Fi’s soon-to-be-launched music streaming service, called JB NOW, should not have a major effect on home broadband quotas, though heavy usage on the upcoming smartphone app could lead to billshock in extreme cases, according to RBS director – retail analyst, Daniel Broeren.
Using modelling from Telstra’s most recent annual report, RBS has looked at how streaming music content from JB NOW will affect home broadband and mobile data (3G) plans.
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For the purposes of this modelling, RBS considered 75 songs per month to be low usage, 170 songs per month as medium usage, while high usage was modelled at 300 songs per month.
“Using this data, we look at the average download limits for similar sized contracts: a $59 cap for 3G and a $49 cap for broadband,” explained Broeren.
“The use of JB NOW will have a minimal impact on data download limits for the average broadband plan. However, for 3G mobile usage, if a consumer was to stream all content via their smartphone, he or she would use between 30 to 50 per cent of their download data limit, assuming average usage levels.”
Broeren stressed that this would be rare, as many uses wouldn’t be exclusive streaming the music to their smartphone.
“Overall, however, we would consider the exclusive use of 3G as extreme,” he said. “For the average consumer, broadband usage costs appear reasonable and are unlikely to be a major hurdle for uptake of the service.”