[LINK] Wireless Internet Popular in Australia

[Tom Worthington]

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported a 21.7% increase in Mobile 
wireless Internet use from December 2009 to June 2010 (Internet 
Activity, Australia, June 2010): 
<http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8153.0/>.

I am being interviewed on ABC Local Radio 666 about this at 9:30am.

Note that the ABS has had some difficulties with what is the definition 
of fixed and mobile wireless and so the figures need to be treated with 
caution. It may be that this over reports use, where people get wireless 
Internet free with something they buy, or unreported it, where they have 
a data service bundled with their mobile phones. However, popularity of 
wireless raises questions as to the need for and viability of the fixed 
fibre optic National Broadband Network. Other statistics:

     * 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. ...



-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/