Australia’s appetite for the internet continues to grow, with Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data revealing data downloads in the three months to December 31 exceeded 1.1 million terabytes (1 exabyte), up 33 per cent on last year’s corresponding quarter.In total, 1,146,743 terabytes was downloaded during the period, representing a 15 per cent rise on the previous quarter.
Data downloaded via fixed-line broadband accounted for 97 per cent of all internet downloads in the period, clocking in at 1,112,379 terabytes, with the volume of data downloaded by fixed-line broadband growing 35 per cent on last year’s corresponding quarter.
Internet subscribers numbered 12,691,000 at the end of the period, an increase of 2 per cent year-on-year, with almost 99 per cent of connections broadband as the number of dial-up internet connections continued to decline.
The advertised download speed range of 8 Mbps to less than 24 Mbps range recorded the highest number of subscribers, with 6.7 million subscribers a 20 per cent increase year-on-year, while more than 2.3 million subscribers accessed the internet at an advertised speed of 24 Mbps or greater.
A total of 21 million mobile handset subscribers was up from 20.3 million subscribers year-on-year, with data downloaded via mobile handsets totalling 52,745 terabytes, up from 27,627 terabytes year-on-year, representing 4 per cent of total data downloaded.
NBN Co has stated its network traffic report also shows growth in heavy internet usage, with the average total end-user data consumption on services over the NBN now 67 GB per month (download only) compared with the latest national average of 58 GB per month.
NBN Co’s principal technology officer Tony Cross stated the figures reveal “appetite for smart devices and online content continues to grow at an exponential rate”.
“With access to fast broadband, a family could be simultaneously streaming on-demand entertainment off multiple devices while still working from home using high-definition video conferencing, without worrying about lags or dropouts,” Cross commented.
