8153.0 - Internet Activity, Australia, Mar 2002  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 18/09/2002   
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  • Number of Internet service providers continues to decrease (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

September 18, 2002
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
119/2002
Number of Internet service providers continues to decrease

The number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Australia decreased by 32 to 571 over the six month period to the end of March 2002, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This continues the series of declines recorded since the end of September 2000, when there were 718 ISPs.

There were 4.2 million Internet subscribers in Australia at the end of March 2002, a small decline (-43,000) on the number of subscribers at the end of September 2001. The fall in the number of subscribers can be accounted for by a large fall in subscribers with free access (-180,000).

Other results from the ABS Internet Activity Survey were:
  • At the end of March 2002, ISPs provided 2,131 points of presence and 447,050 access lines across Australia. There were 7% fewer access lines than at the end of September 2001. On average, there were 9.5 subscribers per Internet access line at the end of March 2002, compared with 8.9 at the end of September 2001.
  • There were 1,234 m megabytes (Mbs) of data downloaded by Internet subscribers during the March quarter 2002. This was nearly 3% higher than the volume downloaded during the September quarter 2001. An average of 290 Mbs of data per subscriber were downloaded during the March quarter 2002, compared with 281 Mbs during the September quarter 2001.
  • While there is a wide distribution of ISPs across Australia, capital cities accounted for 73% of subscribers and 75% of the access lines at the end of March 2002. There were, on average, 9.3 subscribers per access line in capital cities, downloading an average of 320 Mbs of data during the March quarter 2002. This compared to 9.9 subscribers per access line in other areas, downloading an average of 205 Mbs of data during the March quarter 2002.

Further details can be found in Internet Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8153.0)