The Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA), the national telecommunications regulator, has reported that "Australians are embracing the digital economy, with big increases in the volume of data downloaded, time spent online and activities undertaken online".
That is the same message we've seen for a decade, but the latest data is interesting once yawns are stifled regarding yet another rendition of "most Australians today have access to the internet at multiple locations" and that "Australians are using the internet more intensively, going online more often for a much wider range of reasons".
ACMA indicates that as at June 2010 approximately 77% of the population 14 years and over had internet access at home. 66% had a broadband connection. Nearly 2.4 million people accessed the internet via their handheld mobiles during June 2010, up from 1.6 million during June 2009. ACMA's Communications Report 2009-10 [PDF] indicated that the total number of mobile services in operation (voice and data services) increased by 7% during 2009–10 to reach 25.99 million services at June 2010. Growth in mobile services was fuelled by an increase in the numbers of mobile wireless broadband services (datacard/dongle connected to a computer), up by 71% over the period to reach 3.46 million at June 2010.
28% of people 14 years and over were estimated to be 'heavy' internet users (ie online more than 15 hours a week) in June 2010, up from 14% during June 2005. A further 27% were considered medium users (between 7 and 15 hours a week) and 23% light users (up to 7 hours a week).
An estimated 155,503 terabytes of data were downloaded in Australia during the June quarter of 2010, compared to 99,249 terabytes during the June quarter of 2009. Online social networking supposedly continues to be a "major driving force in the increasing intensity of online participation, with 8.7 million Australians accessing mainstream social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube from home during June 2010 alone, spending in total more than 41.5 million hours on these sites. 6 million people accessed "mainstream online news sites" from home during June 2010.
