Australians consume 3.1 exabytes … in one quarter

ACMA, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, has released its latest report to the Federal Parliament.* And, yes, in three months of this year, Australians downloaded 3.1 exabytes worth of stuff. An exabyte is a million terabytes.

Amongst the findings:

Australians downloaded over 3.1 million terabytes in the June 2017 quarter, up 43 per cent on the same period last year*. Ninety-two per cent of all data in this quarter was downloaded over fixed-line broadband. Fixed-line broadband also contributed to more than 90 per cent of the download growth.

Given the price differentials per gigabyte between mobile and fixed line data, I guess the balance between the two isn’t surprising.

The report is chock full of interesting findings. Here are a few I liked.

  • Some 89 per cent of all Australian adults access the Internet
  • For the 18 to 34 age group, that increases to one hundred percent
  • Some six and two thirds million Australians are mobile only, with no fixed telephone line
  • ACMA says that “smart TVs [are] becoming an increasingly popular way to go online”, although I read the report as suggesting that they are the most common smart appliance in the home, and are used for streaming. Not quite the same as “going online” I would have thought.
  • There’s 4G coverage, via one provider or another, of at least 96 per cent of the Australian population.
  • Between the June 2013 quarter and the June 2017 quarter – a period of five years – the total volume of data downloaded has increased by 4.7 times
  • Over the same period, mobile handset data downloads have increased by 9.0 times. Again, not too surprising given the rapid growth of faster mobile data networks, and the relative stagnation of fixed line broadband under the current near monopoly.
  • Some fifteen percent of mobile phone users have a monthly data allowance of more than 10GB. Twelve percent have none at all.

* Which, I gather, has already closed up shop for the year.