8153.0 - Internet Activity, Australia, Jun 2008 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 22/09/2008   
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MEDIA RELEASE

September 22, 2008
Embargoed: 11.30 am (AEST)
94/2008

Wireless internet connections almost double in six months: ABS

Wireless broadband technology subscriptions saw almost 90% growth in six months according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

Wireless connections accounted for 14% (809,000) of all Australian broadband subscriptions at the end of June 2008, up from 433,000 in the December quarter 2007.

As at June 2008, Australia had a total of 7.2 million active internet subscribers; just under 80% of these subscribers had broadband connections.

Broadband subscribers continue to choose faster connections. Subscribers with download connections of 1.5 Megabits per second* or greater increased to 3.1 million or 43% of all subscribers compared to 2.5 million (36%) at the end of December 2007.

Other internet activity highlights as at June 2008 include:

  • there were 6.2 million household subscribers and 1.0 million business and government subscribers
  • Digital Subscriber Line (DSL, ADSL, xDSL) was used by almost four million broadband subscribers
  • the number of broadband subscribers was 5.7 million (i.e. subscribers on speeds 256kbps or greater)

Information was supplied by Internet Service Providers with more than 10,000 active subscribers.

More details are available in Internet Activity, Australia, June 2008 (cat. no. 8153.0), which can be downloaded free from the
ABS website <www.abs.gov.au>.

* Media Note - A 1.5 Megabit per second connection speed allows you to download a song (in MP3 format) in about 20 seconds.