re: lets move on from germanicant 1)Are monthly churn rates in...

re: lets move on from germanicant 1)Are monthly churn rates in the 1.4-1.75% range which, when annualised, can approximate the 15-20% range, considered normal?

Based on numbers other mature telcos state, yes. You would find a company like Primus would have about 2% of its customerbase churn every month. There are various reasons for this, such as credit, moving, price, etc.

2)If so, will this likely change as the business gains traction (maturity, etc)?

Imature telcos have low churn, Mature telcos have higher churn. Why? Because Imature telcos base themselves on price, and price alone. Mature telcos such as people telecom actualy want to make a profit! But in order to retain customers, service, bundles, and additional services must be offered. People Telecom is a full service provider, I know many business who use them, and from what they tell me, its great! You need to stand out from the market, and PEO is already doing that in their business/SME area, with customer service. Their little thing is

"If you had waited more than 30 seconds to talk to your telecommunications provider you weren't talking to people telecom"

3)If a churn rate of this magnitude is evident (coupled together with a rejection rate that also seems high on a comparative basis), does this suggest that one of the biggest challenges facing a business in the broadband (etc) space is actually its customer acquisition and customer maintenance costs?

The broadband market needs to mature. The rejection rate is high, because telstra dont allow every telephone line to get ADSL. Have a look at the churn rate of telstra, primus, iiNet, etc for data. Have a look at the big telcos, and see what the churn rate is for Voice. Its more than you might imagine.

4)If so, is this one of the main variable areas which could beneficially benefit a company (if they can get their churn /rejection factors down), or converely, adversely impact a company (if they cannot do so)?

Rejection is hard to get down, because the network operator(telstra) do not allow everyone to get ADSL. The only way to check if you can get ADSL is to apply for a provider.

Reducing churn is always a good idea! Its just a fact of life however that consumers have choice, and they will move around.