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INTRODUCTION
The Internet Activity Survey (IAS) is a census which collects details on aspects of Internet access services provided by ISPs in Australia. This publication contains results from all identified Internet Service Providers (ISPs) operating in Australia at 30 September 2003.
DATA QUALITY
Estimates for data at the State/Territory level are derived from data provided for POPs (Point Of Presence or servers). In recent cycles, changing access technologies, infrastructure and operational arrangements have been impacting on the quality of the data at the POP level. As a result, data presented at the State/Territory level should be considered only indicative measures of Internet activity.
The same issues related to the quality of POP data have had a more significant impact at the Statistical Division level. These data cannot be adequately quality assured and could present misleading indicators of regional activity and usage. These data are no longer available for release.
The requirement to report number of access lines available for use of subscribers for both dial-up and non-dial up technologies has resulted in significantly improved reporting for this item and contributed to a major increase in the number of access lines reported.
A comprehensive coverage exercise was undertaken prior to the conduct of the September quarter 2003 collection. This has resulted in a higher than usual increase in the number of ISPs being introduced to the survey. Analysis indicates that these additional units are predominently in the very small and small size ranges used in the Internet Activity Survey and that the impact on survey data is minimal.
CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE
New questions and changes to existing questions have increased the data available for both subscriber numbers and subscriber activity relating to access technologies. For the first time, data regarding download speed of access connection have been collected allowing improved analysis of the uptake of broadband. Changes to questions on data downloaded and access lines available to subscribers have resulted in the availability of these data for both dial-up and non dial-up subscribers as well as household and business/government subscribers.
A series of new questions on SPAM filtering products and their provision by ISPs have been introduced. Questions relating to additional services provided by ISPs have been removed for this reference period.
COMMENTS
Comments and suggestions for both survey content and this publication are welcome and should be addressed to the Director, Innovation & Technology Business Statistics Centre, GPO Box K881, Perth, WA, 6842.
ROUNDING
Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between the sum of the components and the total. Averages have been calculated using unrounded data.
HIGHLIGHTS
- At the end of September 2003, total Internet subscribers in Australia numbered over 5.2 million, this is an increase of 135,000 (3%) from the end of March 2003. This modest increase follows the larger increases recorded in the previous two collections, 11% for the six months ended March 2003 and 8% for the six months ended September 2002.
- Dial-up subscriber numbers in Australia fell by 85,000 (2%) in the six months to September 2003. Dial-up subscribers as a proportion of total subscribers fell below 90% for the first time.
- The number of non dial-up subscribers grew from 470,000 at the end of the March 2003 to 690,000 at the end of September 2003, an increase of 220,000 (47%) reflecting the continuing move toward these technologies. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) subscriber numbers grew strongly from 209,000 in the March quarter 2003 to 372,000 in the September quarter 2003, an increase of 163,000 (78%).
- There were 667 ISPs supplying Internet access to 5.2 million active subscribers at the end of the September quarter 2003. This is an increase of 113 ISPs (20%) over the six months from the end of the March quarter 2003. About half of the new ISPs were identified from new web-based sources as part of an exercise aimed at improving industry coverage (see 'Data Quality' in the Notes section for details). All new units identified in this exercise were found to be in the very small and small categories and in general, had a minimal impact on survey results.
- Changes to the question used to collect the number of access lines available for subscribers contributed significantly to the large increase (52%) for the September quarter 2003. ISPs now provide the number of access lines available to subscribers for dial-up and non-dial up separately. For this reason, data should not be compared to previous quarters. Data from the September quarter 2003 showed that there were just over 626,000 access lines available for dial-up subscribers and just under 681,000 access lines available for non-dial up subscribers.
- The number of subscribers by download speed of access connection was collected for the first time. The intention is to provide a measure of broadband uptake that utilises speed of access connection rather than the technology being used to deliver the connection. The definition currently being utilised by the ABS defines broadband as “an 'always on' Internet connection with an access speed equal to or greater than 256kbps”. At the end of September 2003, there were 657,000 broadband subscribers by this definition.
- At the end of September 2003, 384 (or 58%) ISPs offered their subscribers a SPAM filtering product as either a free or charged service. Almost 2.5 million subscribers had adopted a SPAM filtering product at the end of September 2003.
- Data downloaded by subscribers increased by 53% from 3,046 million MBs to 4,665 million MBs. Non dial-up subscribers accounted for over 67% of the total data downloaded reflecting the much faster download speeds available.
INTERNET ACTIVITY SUMMARY, Australia
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 |  |  |  |  | September | March | September | March | September |
 |  |  |  | | Quarter 2001 | Quarter
2002 | Quarter
2002 | Quarter
2003 | Quarter
2003 |
|
| ISPs(a)(b) |  |  |  |  |  |  | |  |
 | Very small | no. |  | | 112 | 102 | 102 | 110 | 153 |
 | Small | no. |  | | 299 | 276 | 254 | 251 | 316 |
 | Medium | no. |  | | 155 | 161 | 172 | 160 | 163 |
 | Large | no. |  | | 30 | 26 | 29 | 26 | 27 |
 | Very large | no. |  | | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
 | Total | no. |  | | 602 | 571 | 563 | 554 | 667 |
| Internet Access(b) |  |  | |  |  |  |  | |
 | Dial-up Access Lines | no. |  | | | | | | 626,554 |
| Non Dial-up Access Lines | | | | | | | | 680,933 |
 | Access lines | no. |  | | 486,877 | 447,050 | 639,197 | 857,470 | 1,307,487 |
| Subscribers(b) |  |  | |  |  |  |  | |
| Dial-up | | | | | | | | |
| Business and government | | | | | | | 520 | 505 |
| Household | | | | | | | 4,087 | 4,017 |
| Total | | | | | | | 4,607 | 4,522 |
| Non Dial-up | | | | | | | | |
| Business and government | | | | | | | 139 | 190 |
| Household | | | | | | | 331 | 499 |
| Total | | | | | | | 470 | 690 |
| Total | | | | | | | | |
 | Business and government | '000 |  | | 559 | 505 | 650 | 659 | 696 |
 | Household | '000 |  | | 3,726 | 3,724 | 3,904 | 4,417 | 4,516 |
 | Total | '000 |  | | 4,285 | 4,229 | 4,555 | 5,076 | 5,211 |
| Data downloaded(c) |  |  | |  |  |  |  | |
| Dial-up | | | | | | | | |
| Business and government | | | | | | | | 178 |
| Household | | | | | | | | 1,341 |
| Total | | | | | | | | 1,520 |
| Non Dial-up | | | | | | | | |
| Business and government | | | | | | | | 1,169 |
| Household | | | | | | | | 1,976 |
| Total | | | | | | | | 3,145 |
| Total | | | | | | | | |
 | Business and government | million Mbs |  | | 506 | 528 | 740 | 782 | 1,347 |
 | Household | million Mbs |  | | 780 | 1,303 | 2,172 | 2,264 | 3,317 |
 | Total | million Mbs |  | | 1,286 | 1,831 | 2,913 | 3,046 | 4,665 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|
| -- | Nil or rounded to zero (including null cells) | | |
| (a) | See paragraph 7 of Explanatory Notes for description of ISP size categories. | (b) | As at the end of the reference quarter. |
| (c) | During the three months of the reference quarter. |
INTERNET ACTIVITY SUMMARY, State and territory
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 |  |  | | | |
 |  |  | September | March |  September | March | September |
 |  |  | Quarter
2001 | Quarter
2002 |  Quarter
2002 | Quarter
2003 | Quarter
2003 |
NEW SOUTH WALES
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| ISPs(a) | no. |  | 244 | 236 | 240 | 212 | 236 |
| Access lines(b) | no. |  | 155,291 | 160,100 | 241,541 | 295,563 | 449,591 |
| All subscribers(b) | '000 |  | 1,446 | 1,441 | 1,583 | 1,770 | 1,828 |
| Data downloaded(c) | million Mbs |  | 435 | 676 | 1,132 | 1,074 | 1,672 |
VICTORIA
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| ISPs(a) | no. |  | 220 |  212 | 198 | 187 | 213 |
| Access lines(b) | no. |  | 141,313 | 114,544 | 163,855 | 241,274 | 347,371 |
| All subscribers(b) | '000 |  | 1,160 |  1,045 | 1,180 | 1,338 | 1,394 |
| Data downloaded(c) | million Mbs |  | 347 |  457 | 709 | 847 | 1,197 |
QUEENSLAND
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| ISPs(a) | no. |  | 161 | 151 | 150 | 146 | 170 |
| Access lines(b) | no. |  | 93,985 | 77,432 | 102,767 | 143,362 | 219,800 |
| All subscribers(b) | '000 |  | 829 | 863 | 822 | 886 | 923 |
| Data downloaded(c) | million Mbs |  | 206 | 308 | 524 | 464 | 688 |
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
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| ISPs(a) | no. |  | 70 | 74 | 65 | 57 | 62 |
| Access lines(b) | no. |  | 31,027 | 31,394 | 34,807 | 44,386 | 84,533 |
| All subscribers(b) | '000 |  | 280 | 294 | 328 | 347 | 343 |
| Data downloaded(c) | million Mbs |  | 99 | 125 | 141 | 193 | 396 |
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
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| ISPs(a) | no. |  | 100 | 100 | 92 | 85 | 96 |
| Access lines(b) | no. |  | 41,104 | 42,647 | 65,044 | 86,538 | 137,786 |
| All subscribers(b) | '000 |  | 363 | 386 | 411 | 472 | 472 |
| Data downloaded(c) | million Mbs |  | 129 | 173 | 273 | 303 | 522 |
TASMANIA
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| ISPs(a) | no. |  | 29 | 30 | 28 | 22 | 24 |
| Access lines(b) | no. |  | 10,354 | 9,159 | 12,404 | 20,876 | 28,109 |
| All subscribers(b) | '000 |  | 95 | 88 | 98 | 109 | 107 |
| Data downloaded(c) | million Mbs |  | 31 | 36 | 49 | 60 | 78 |
NORTHERN TERRITORY
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| ISPs(a) | no. |  | 18 | 21 | 23 | 15 | 18 |
| Access lines(b) | no. |  | 4,163 | 3,661 | 4,701 | 6,860 | 9,340 |
| All subscribers(b) | '000 |  | 45 | 43 | 37 | 38 | 35 |
| Data downloaded(c) | million Mbs |  | 9 | 16 | 19 | 26 | 25 |
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
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| ISPs(a) | no. |  | 49 | 46 | 44 | 37 | 38 |
| Access lines(b) | no. |  | 9,640 | 8,113 | 14,078 | 18,611 | 30,957 |
| All subscribers(b) | '000 |  | 68 | 71 | 95 | 116 | 110 |
| Data downloaded(c) | million Mbs |  | 28 | 40 | 66 | 80 | 87 |
AUSTRALIA
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| ISPs(a) | no. |  | 602 | 571 | 563 | 554 | 667 |
| Access lines(b) | no. |  | 486,877 | 447,050 | 639,197 | 857,470 | 1,307,487 |
| All subscribers(b) | '000 |  | 4,285 | 4,229 | 4,555 | 5,076 | 5,211 |
| Data downloaded(c) | million Mbs |  | 1,286 | 1,831 | 2,913 | 3,046 | 4,665 |
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(a) Based on State or Territory of operations not Head Office Location - see 'Data Quality' in Notes section on Page 2 for details.
(b) As at the end of the reference quarter. |
| (c) During the three months of the reference quarter. |
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