Broadband demand surges: ABS

9 Oct 2012, 6:52 pm   -   Source: AAP

Demand for broadband has been surging across Australia, with fixed-line services doing the heavy lifting, official data shows.

Demand for broadband continues to surge in Australia, with the bulk of downloads on fixed-line services, official data shows.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its latest volume of data downloaded report for the three months to June 2012 on Tuesday.

Total volume of data downloaded for internet service providers (ISPs) with more than 1000 subscribers was 414,537 terabytes in the June 2012 quarter, up 20 per cent on the December 2011 quarter and 51.1 per cent on the corresponding period a year before.

One terabyte is 1024 gigabytes, which is the equivalent of 217 blu-ray disc two-hour movies.

Fixed-line broadband, including copper, cable and fibre did the heavy lifting, with 93.9 per cent of all downloads in the June quarter.

Downloads on fixed lines rose 20.7 per cent in the three months to June 30 compared to the December 2011 quarter, and up 52.6 per cent on the corresponding period the previous year.

Mobile wireless downloads increased 9.3 per cent and 32.1 per cent in the respective periods.

An NBN Co spokesman said the figures underlined the need for the national broadband network (NBN) in Australia.

"More people are downloading more data over fixed-line networks," the spokesman said in a statement.

"Australia needs to upgrade its telecommunications infrastructure if we're keep to up with our ever-growing appetite for information."

The government's $37.4 billion NBN project is to deliver high-speed fibre optic cable broadband to 93 per cent of homes, schools and businesses by 2021, with the rest provided by fixed wireless and satellite technologies.

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