• Summary
• Downloads
• Explanatory Notes
• Related Information
• Past Releases

NOTES


INTRODUCTION

• The Internet Activity Survey (IAS) collects details on aspects of internet access services provided by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Australia.
• This release contains results from all ISPs operating in Australia as at 30 June 2010.
• Active subscribers are defined as subscribers who have accessed the internet or paid for access to the internet during the three months ending 30 June 2010. Counts of subscribers are not the same as counts of people/organisations with internet access, as subscribers may have accounts with more than one ISP or multiple accounts with a single ISP.
• This is an electronic release of Internet Activity, Australia. More detailed and historical information is available in the accompanying datacubes.
• This is the first release of wireless connections to the internet via a mobile handset (please see Appendix 1).

• At the end of June 2010, there were 9.6 million active internet subscribers in Australia.
• The phasing out of dial-up internet connections continued with nearly 92% of internet connections now being non dial-up. Australians also continued to access increasingly faster download speeds, with 71% of access connections offering a download speed of 1.5Mbps or greater.
• Digital subscriber line (DSL) continued to be the major technology for connections, accounting for 44% of the total internet connections. However, this percentage share has decreased since December 2009 when DSL represented 47% of the total connections.
• Mobile wireless (excluding mobile handset connections) was the fastest growing technology in internet access, increasing to 3.5 million in June 2010. This represents a 21.7% increase from December 2009.

(a) For ISPs with more than 1,000 active subscribers.
(b) Prior to December 2008, 'Other' includes satellite, cable and fibre.

• Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between the sum of components and the total. Proportions have been calculated using unrounded data.

• Data for December 2009 were revised due to reporting issues which were identified during editing for the June 2010 quarter.

Internet activity summary, Australia, for all ISPs
				Jun 2009(a)	Dec 2009(a)	Jun 2010
Number of ISPs(b)
	Very small		no.	na	na	99
	Small		no.	na	na	166
	Medium		no.	68	r66	72
	Large		no.	29	r27	23
	Very large		no.	12	r10	12
	Total ISPs		no.	109	r103	372
Subscribers
	Dial-up
		Business and government	'000	215	r188	180
		Household	'000	887	r717	623
		All dial-up subscribers	'000	1 103	r905	803
	Non dial-up
		Business and government	'000	1 174	r1 440	1 704
		Household	'000	6 144	r6 605	7 063
		All non dial-up subscribers	'000	7 317	r8 046	8 766
	All subscribers
		Business and government	'000	1 389	r1 629	1 883
		Household	'000	7 031	r7 322	7 686
		Total subscribers	'000	8 420	r8 951	9 569
Access connections
	Dial-up
		Analog	'000	1 077	r889	791
		Other	'000	10	r2	11
		All dial-up connections	'000	1 087	r891	801
	Non dial-up
		DSL	'000	4 171	r4 178	4 246
		Cable	'000	na	np	np
		Fibre	'000	na	np	15
		Satellite	'000	90	107	113
		Fixed wireless	'000	(c)97	r22	33
		Mobile wireless	'000	2 024	2 838	3 455
		Other	'000	20	r5	np
		All non dial-up connections	'000	7 333	r8 059	8 768
	Total access connections		'000	8 420	r8 950	9 569
Advertised download speeds
	Less than 256kbps		'000	1 103	r905	803
	Broadband
		256kbps to less than 512kbps	'000	1 297	r1 030	504
		512kbps to less than 1.5Mbps	'000	1 249	r1 351	1 475
		1.5Mbps to less than 8Mbps	'000	2 529	r3 188	3 553
		8Mbps to less than 24Mbps	'000	1 800	r1 973	2 600
		24Mbps or greater	'000	443	r503	635
		Broadband (256kbps or greater)	'000	7 317	r8 046	8 766
	Total advertised download speed		'000	8 420	r8 951	9 569
Volume of data downloaded(d)
	Dial-up		TB	466	r294	280
	Fixed line broadband(e)		TB	na	r113 410	141 892
	Wireless broadband(f)		TB	na	r14 251	13 330
	Total broadband		TB	98 782	r127 661	155 222
	Total volume of data downloaded		TB	99 249	r127 954	155 503
na not available
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
r revised
(a) For June 2009 and December 2009 data is for those ISPs with more than 1,000 active subscribers.
(b) See paragraph 8 of the Explanatory Notes for ISP size categories.
(c) Data unrevised and considered unreliable; please see paragraph 15 of the Explanatory Notes.
(d) Data collected for the 3 month period prior to the reference date.
(e) Fixed line broadband includes DSL, cable, fibre and other wired broadband.
(f) Wireless broadband includes satellite, fixed wireless, mobile wireless via a datacard, dongle or USB modem and other wireless broadband. Excludes subscriptions via a mobile handset.