Australian Connectivity

Snippets from the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Internet Activity report -

• There were 12.2 million internet subscribers in Australia at the end of December 2012, up 1% since the end of June 2012 and an annual growth of 5%.
• Household subscribers accounted for 76% of the 12.2 million subscribers in Australia at the end of December 2012. 24% were classified as Business and government subscribers.
• Business and government subscriber numbers increased by 1% from July 2012 to 2.9 million. The number of Household subscribers increased by 1% to 9.3 million over the same period.
• For the Business and government sector, 97% of subscribers accessed the net via a broadband connection (unchanged), compared with 98% of Household subscribers (up 2 percentage points).
• The proportion of internet connections that were dial-up continued to decline, with over 98% of internet connections at 31 December 2012 being broadband. 
• At 31 December 2012, there were 6.0 million mobile wireless broadband connections in Australia, up 2% since the end of June 2012. Mobile wireless broadband was again the most prevalent internet technology in Australia, accounting for 49% of all connections.
• Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connections were up by 2% over the same period, to 4.7 million connections. 
• Fibre was the fastest growing type of internet access connection, in percentage terms, increasing by 75% since the end of June 2012, to 91,000 connections at 31 December 2012.
• At 31 December 2012 there were 17.4 million subscribers with internet access connections via a mobile handset in Australia, up 7% from 16.2 million subscribers at the end of June 2012.
• At 31 December 2012, there were 76 ISPs with over 1,000 subscribers operating in Australia, compared with 81 ISPs in June 2012 and 91 ISPs in December 2011. 
• The number of medium sized ISPs and large ISPs has continued to decline, with the current figures reflecting "structural reporting arrangements and takeover activity, and also for medium ISPs, some units falling below the threshold for inclusion in the reduced-scope census".
• The overall volume of data downloaded in the three months ended 31 December 2012 was 554,771 Terabytes, up 34% compared with the three months ended 30 June 2012.
• Data downloaded by fixed line broadband (526,472 Terabytes) accounted for 95% of all internet downloads in the three months ended 31 December 2012. 
• The volume of data downloaded by fixed line broadband in the three months ended 31 December 2012 increased by 35% compared with the three months ended 30 June 2012.
• Data downloaded using wireless broadband also continued to grow, recording an 11% increase over the same period, to 28,196 Terabytes.