MEDIA RELEASE
9 October 2012	Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)	156/2012
Internet subscribers in Australia passes the 12 million mark

There were over 12 million internet subscribers (excluding mobile handset subscribers) as at 30 June 2012, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is an increase of 440,000 (4%) in six months and over 10% annual growth.

Of these, 5.9 million subscribers were using mobile wireless connections while 4.6 million were using DSL.

Three-quarters of these connections were in the advertised download speed ranges of between 1.5Mbps - 24Mbps. The number of connections at the top end of the speed ranges (24Mbps - 100Mbps and 100Mbps or more) grew by 20% and 34% respectively, since December 2011, accounting for 1.5 million subscribers.

The amount of data downloaded via the internet (excluding mobile handsets) in the three months ending 30 June 2012 was 414,537 TB, a 20% increase since December.

At the end of June 2012, there were 16.2 million mobile handset subscribers in Australia. This represents an increase of nearly 7% over six months. The volume of data downloaded, via mobile handsets, over the three months ending 30 June 2012, was 6,610 TB, an increase of 32% from December 2011.

Further information is available in Internet Activity, Australia (cat. no. 8153.0).

Media Notes:

• When interpreting the data, it is important to note that ABS subscriber statistics measure the number of 'subscriber lines' rather than the number of 'users'. A single subscriber may have multiple accounts with one or more ISPs. Conversely, there are single subscriber accounts that provide internet access for multiple users (for example, universities).

• When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.

Internet subscribers by type of access connection (a), for ISPs with more than 1,000 subscribers
			Jun 2011	Dec 2011	Jun 2012
			'000	'000	'000
Access connection
	Dial-up connections		569	473	439
	Broadband connections
		DSL	4 493	4 553	4 632
		Cable	881	900	917
		Fibre	31	37	52
		Satellite	106	100	94
		Fixed wireless	34	35	30
		Mobile wireless	4 786	5 491	5 862
		Other	7	8	10
	All broadband connections		10 338	11 123	11 597
	Total number of subscribers		10 906	11 596	12 036
(a) Dial-up and broadband figures reported by type of access connection may not equal figures collected by advertised download speeds, due to some broadband connections being reported as less than 256kbps. (b) Data reported by type of access connection may be influenced by cyclical factors, such as educational semesters. This could impact on the data reported at each reference period of the IAS, namely 30 June and 31 December, particularly for types of access connection where relatively small numbers are reported.

Internet subscribers by advertised download speed, for ISPs with more than 1,000 subscribers
		Jun 2011	Dec 2011	Jun 2012
		'000	'000	'000
Less than 256kbps		579	475	436
Broadband
	256kbps to less than 1.5Mbps	812	808	980
	1.5Mbps to less than 8Mbps	4 614	5 115	5 067
	8Mbps to less than 24Mbps	3 913	3 985	4 094
	24Mbps to less than 100Mbps	972	1 182	1 415
	100Mbps or greater	18	32	43
	Total broadband (256kbps or greater)	10 328	11 121	11 600
Total number of subscribers		10 906	11 596	12 036