Internet use rockets as Australians’ dependence grows

Australians, it seems, are increasingly addicted to the internet: a report from the communications regulator shows we are sucking down hundreds of thousands more terabytes of data than we were a year ago. In the year to June 30, 2012, Australians downloaded 421,147 terabytes of data, an increase of 52 per cent, while the total internet subscribers increased to 28.23 million. Nearly half of us (10.8 million) are going online at least once a day and the typical Aussie spends 82 hours a month on the internet.

 

The figures are contained in the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) Communications Report, tabled in federal parliament this Thursday.

ACMA found that the huge increase in data downloaded was due to the growth in online streaming of digital media, including user-generated video (increased by 67 per cent to 4.4 million people), TV programs (47 per cent to 1.6 million) and radio services (34 per cent to 1.2 million). About 60 per cent of us use the internet daily for banking and paying bills. ACMA found there were 22.05 million mobile internet subscribers (including mobile phones, dongles USB modems, etc) at June 30 this year.

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