The number of broadband subscribers in Australia had grown to 13, 461,000 by December last year according to data released last month by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. ABS states the figure represented growth of 4.7% compared to the end of December 2015.
Indicating a sign of the times, ABS is no longer including the number of dialup connections in its Internet Activity reports. The last figures we reported on for dialup was in October last year, when the number of dialup subscribers had dropped to 90,000 (June 2016 - ABS).
The latest Internet Activity report indicates number of fibre connections increased to more than 1.4 million by the end of December, an increase of 122% over the end of 2015.
The number of broadband subscribers to other connection technologies compared to previous period (December 2016/ December 2015):
- DSL - 4, 716,000 (5, 032,000)
- Cable - 1,048,000 (1, 029,000)
- Satellite - 76,000 (62,000)
- Fixed Wireless - 102,000 (83,000)
- Mobile Wireless - 6, 087,000 (6, 039,000)
With regard to the types of plans Australians were subscribed to in December last year:
- Less than 1.5Mbps - 92,000
- 1.5Mbps to less than 8Mbps - 2,158,000
- 8Mbps to less than 24Mbps - 3,368,000
- 24Mbps to less than 100Mbps - 7,557,000
- 100Mbps or greater - 286,000
It's important to note the above is based on advertised speed of broad plans.
Our appetite for data continues to increase, with 2.6 million terabytes downloaded in the three months ended 31 December 2016; a 23.3% increase compared with the three months ended 30 June 2016. Of the total figure, 146,050 terabytes was downloaded on mobile handsets.
On a related note, the number of mobile handset subscribers in Australia had reached 25,457,000 in December 2016 - that's more than one subscription for every man, woman and child in the nation.
The Internet Activity Survey (IAS) is conducted June and December each year. The most recent survey is based on data from ISPs with more than 1,000 subscribers operating in Australia as at 31 December 2016. The number of ISPs with more than 1,000 subscribers dropped between June and December last year, from 66 to 63.
Further details from the latest survey results can be viewed here - 8153.0 - Internet Activity, Australia, December 2016.
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