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2 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS (IT&T) STATISTICS

2.1 Household Use of IT
2.2 Business Use of IT
2.3 Government Use of IT
2.4 Farm Use of IT
2.5 Internet Activity
2.6 Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries
2.7 IT&T Regional Information

2.1 HOUSEHOLD USE OF IT

The November quarter 2000 Population Survey Monitor (PSM) was the last PSM to be conducted by the ABS. As the PSM was the source of our Household Use of Information Technology (HUIT) data, these data will no longer be produced by the ABS on a quarterly basis.

For 2001, a HUIT module of questions has been incorporated into the Survey of Education and Training (now called the Survey of Education, Training and Information Technology - SETIT). HUIT results are expected to be released from SETIT in August 2002 (Cat. no. 8146.0) .


2.2 BUSINESS USE OF IT

The ABS publication Business Use of Information Technology (Cat. no. 8129.0) presents details from the ABS Business Technology Survey. The latest results were released on 20 March 2002 in respect of the 2000-2001 financial year.

The Business Technology survey is an annual economy wide survey collecting information from about 12,000 private sector businesses about their use of computers, the Internet and the web. These businesses are randomly selected to represent all industries, with the exception of Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Education, Religious organisations and Private households employing people.

The 2000-01 survey focussed on the extent and use of the Internet and web sites, as well as continuing to measure and refine the concept of Internet commerce. Future surveys will continue to adapt to changes in business use of IT.

Development for the 2002-03 survey is about to commence. Comments or suggestions regarding the data content for this survey are welcomed and should be addressed to Sheridan Roberts (sheridan.roberts@abs.gov.au).

Some of the key findings from the 2000-01 survey were :

• The number of businesses using IT continues to increase. By June 2001:

84% were using computers (up from 76% in June 2000)
69% had Internet access (up from 56% in June 2000)
22% had a web presence (up from 16% in June 2000)
20% of business were purchasing via the Internet (up from 10% in 1999-2000)
9% of business were selling via the Internet (up from 6% in 1999-2000).

• In Australia, the value of Internet sales for the year ended 30 June 2001 was estimated at $9.4b. This represented only a very small portion (0.7%) of the total sale of goods and services over the same period.

• Total expenditure on IT&T by government organisations during 1999-2000 was an estimated $4.3 billion or 5% of total government operating expenditure.

• Federal departments and agencies accounted for just under half (47%) of the total government expenditure on IT&T. State/territory departments and agencies accounted for slightly less (45%) and local government accounted for the balance (8%). When the proportion of IT&T expenditure to the total government operating expenditure is compared for each level of government, the following proportions are obtained 7% (federal), 4% (state/territory) and 2% (local government).

• IT&T outsourcing expenses were $1,168 million or 27% of the total IT&T expenditure by government organisations in 1999-2000. While the ratio of IT&T outsourcing expenses to total IT&T operating expenses showed little variation between federal and state/territory governments at 29% and 27% respectively, a much lower ratio of 15% was reported by local government.

• During 1999-2000, total IT&T operating expenses per employee were $4,800. However, there was considerable variation across the three types of government, with total IT&T operating expenses estimated at $9,500 per federal government employee, $3,600 per state/territory government employee and $2,300 per local government employee.

• IT employees accounted for only 2% of total employment of government organisations at the end of June 2000. Federal departments and agencies had the highest proportion of IT employees to total employment (4%) compared with 1% for both state/territory and local government departments and agencies.

• There were 603 ISPs operating at the end of the September quarter 2001.
  
• Very large ISPs provided Internet access for 64% of all subscribers at the end of the September quarter. This compares with 22%, 10%, 3% and 0.1% respectively for Large, Medium, Small and Very small ISPs.
  
• There were 1,201 million megabytes (Mbs) of data downloaded by subscribers during the September quarter 2001. This is similar to the June quarter download of 1,204 million megabytes. During the September quarter 2001, household subscribers downloaded 652 million Mbs of data (54% of the total) while business and government subscribers downloaded 550 million Mbs. There was an overall average of 281 Mbs of data downloaded per Internet subscriber, with household subscribers averaging 175 Mbs of data downloaded, and business and government subscribers averaging 1,011 Mbs.
  
• Internet access technology is rapidly changing with a vast range of technologies available to access the Internet including: analog, digital, satellite, Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP), and microwave. There is keen policy interest in the growth of broadband technologies such as Cable and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL).

• The total number of ISPs has decreased from 718 to 603 with the decrease mainly from the smaller ISPs (those with fewer than 10,000 subscribers).

• Business and government subscribers have increased by 26% while household subscribers have increased by 9%.
  
• Very large ISPs continue to dominate, providing Internet access for over 50% of all subscribers.
  
• Data downloaded by subscribers has increased from 1,052 million megabytes per quarter to 1,201 million megabytes.
  
• The number of subscribers accessing the Internet via free access plans has decreased from 685,000 (18% of total subscribers) to 192,000 (4% of total subscribers).
• Increasing numbers of subscribers are accessing the Internet via permanent broadband methods such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). The number of subscribers using DSL has increased from 6,000 to 30,000 with the number of ISPs offering this service increasing from 28 to 62.

• The 2001 Population Census included the following IT questions asked of all persons in the household:
  
  

  Did the person use a personal computer at home last week?	No
  	Yes
  Did the person use the Internet anywhere last week?	No
  Mark all applicable boxes	Yes, at home
  	Yes, at work
  	Yes, elsewhere

  
  Initial results were released on 17 June 2002.

• Data down to the Statistical Division level, in respect of farm use of IT, are available from the Agricultural Commodity Survey. Survey results in respect of 2000 are available from catalogue 8150.0.
  
• As the survey of Internet service providers (ISPs) includes all businesses, some regional data in relation to 'points of presence' are available at Statistical Division level. See catalogue 8153.0 for more details.
  
• Maps showing the uptake of Internet access for households in each Australian capital city statistical division can be found in the June 2001 release of 'State of Play', produced by the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE). The report can be accessed from the home page of the NOIE web site, www.noie.gov.au.