Australia - Internet, Broadband and Digital Economy Statistics (tables only)

Publication Overview

This tables-only report provides over 170 statistical tables and charts for internet, broadband and all aspects of the digital economy in Australia. Full details, commentaries and analyses are given elsewhere in the annual reports listed at the end of the Contents section.

Researcher:- Paul Budde, Stephen McNamara
Current publication date:- November 2011 (10th Edition)

Executive Summary

Australia’s Digital Economy in statistics

Broadband market

Although there is some conjecture that the actual number of internet service providers ranges from less than 400 through to more than 600, BuddeComm estimates that in early 2011 there were around 450 providers, offering services ranging from dial-up through to digital subscriber line, fibre and wireless solutions. Some internet service providers only service small numbers, less than 100 users.

The fixed broadband market in 2011 is still growing and in that year the percentage increase was higher than in the past couple of years. The increase in numbers appears to be coming from uptake by newer customers, plus the continued drop-off in dial-up customers as they move to a faster and often cheaper service.

Continued strong adoption of services such as Ethernet and private IP in the business data market segment saw revenue growth of around 15% in 2011.

The hybrid fibre coax networks operated by the two major operators in Australia, Telstra and Optus, were upgraded to DOCSIS 3 in 2010 as a way of remaining competitive in the current broadband market – that is, before the national broadband network is rolled out.

Broadcasting

According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) there are 28 distinct commercial television licence areas across Australia. Broadcast planning provides for three commercial television licence operators in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

During 2009-2011 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Special Broadcasting Service, Seven, Nine and Ten all launched free-to-view digital channels on the Freeview platform. In early 2011 total digital TV penetration was at 75% across Australia and steady growth is expected to continue until 2013. A number of regions have now switched from analogue to digital, and of these regions most have hit 100% household penetration leading up to the changeover, with some users being assisted by the Household Assistance Scheme.

The past net losses of pay TV have decreased and profits are arriving. The average revenue per user of both AUSTAR and Foxtel are increasing as they are driven by higher-tier package uptake. As the analogue switchover to digital broadcasting moves across the Australian continent the subscription TV operators may be able to increase subscribers as the viewers get the feeling of what is possible in the new digital TV environment.

The recent changes in media ownership and broadcasting regulations in Australia are likely to lead to further consolidation of radio operators and increased cross-media ownership. In 2011 takeovers are starting to take place, with the Austereo Group merging into Southern Cross Media and Fairfax offloading its regional radio stations.

The digital economy

We are getting a clearer view of where this media industry is going. The picture is still slightly blurred but increasingly we see the traditional TV media concentrating on digital TV. Investment-wise that is where their money is going. They have been unable to keep up with the digital media activities of the new players, which are dominating the broadband content and services market.

Separately we are beginning to see other activities that we classify as belonging to digital economy, such as e-commerce, e-health, e-learning and smart grids. These last activities are covered in separate BuddeComm reports.

Expenditure on online advertising in Australia continues to expand, targeting businesses and consumers – these groups are increasing their online usage as uptake of smarter technology and faster connections make accessing the internet easier.

By mid-2011 online advertising increased by around 20% year-on-year in 2011. The same amount of growth also occurred YoY by mid-2010. The increase in online advertising may be in anticipation of an improved economic environment coming into 2012, as Australian businesses continue to increase the amount of online sales.

Online video and web TV have become recognised as a powerful format for both communicating online and providing an enhanced online experience.

Table of Contents

• 1. Internet Statistics
  • 1.1 Internet subscribers
  • 1.2 Internet technologies
  • 1.3 Internet access
    • 1.3.1 Domestic users
    • 1.3.2 Business users
  • 1.4 Internet activities
    • 1.4.1 Domestic activities
    • 1.4.2 Business activities
  • 1.5 Internet service providers
  • 1.6 Customers complaints
• 2. Broadband Statistics
  • 2.1 Industry finances
    • 2.1.1 Company broadband revenues
  • 2.2 Broadband subscribers
  • 2.3 Broadband access
    • 2.3.1 Market shares by access
    • 2.3.2 DSL market
    • 2.3.3 DSL infrastructure
    • 2.3.4 DSL providers
    • 2.3.5 HFC Cable Networks
    • 2.3.6 Home Area Networks
    • 2.3.7 FttH Greenfield Market
  • 2.4 International comparisons
  • 2.5 Domestic broadband market
  • 2.6 Business broadband market
• 3. Digital Economy Statistics
  • 3.1 International statistics
    • 3.1.1 m-payments
    • 3.1.2 Mobile banking
    • 3.1.3 Advertising
    • 3.1.4 USA statistics
    • 3.1.5 China statistics
  • 3.2 Australian E-Commerce
  • 3.3 Prepaid payment market
  • 3.4 Advertising and Marketing Industry
  • 3.5 Online entertainment
  • 3.6 Australian websites
  • Table 1 – Internet subscribers by download speed – 2007 - 2010
  • Table 2 – Business, govt and household Internet subscribers by download speed – 2007 - 2010
  • Table 3 – Internet subscribers by access technology – 2008 - 2011
  • Table 4 – Data downloaded by access technology – 2009 - 2011
  • Table 5 – Data downloaded by access technology (historic) – 2008 - 2009
  • Table 6 – Computerisation in the home – 2010
  • Table 7 – Dial-up and non-dial-up Internet subscribers – 2003 - 2010
  • Table 8 – Total households with home Internet access – 2006 - 2010
  • Table 9 – Broadband component of Internet households – 2005 - 2011; 2015
  • Table 10 – Internet usage by age group – 2010
  • Table 11 – Internet access households with children – 2001 - 2009
  • Table 12 – Growth in data usage – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 13 – Business trends in Internet connections – 2000 - 2010
  • Table 14 – SMEs Internet access methods, by technology – 2009 - 2010
  • Table 15 – Employees’ work locations – home, workplace or off-site – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 16 – Forecast total business telecoms/Internet market – 2015
  • Table 17 – Top 5 Internet activities online versus mobile – 2010
  • Table 18 – Total households with home Internet access – 2006 - 2010
  • Table 19 – Summary of current uses of the Internet by SMEs – 2009 - 2010
  • Table 20 – Number of ISPs – 2001 - 2012
  • Table 21 – Number of ISPs by major technology – 2009 - 2011
  • Table 22 – Proportion of ISPs by size in the Australian market – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 23 – The top six ISPs with excellent customer service satisfaction ratings – 2008 - 2011
  • Table 24 – TIO consumer and SME complaints – 2006 - 2010
  • Table 25 – Forecast Broadband revenues – 2005; 2010; 2015
  • Table 26 – Broadband access revenues by major provider – 2007 - 2011
  • Table 27 – Annual change in broadband access revenues by major provider – 2007 - 2011
  • Table 28 – Market share of broadband access revenues by major provider – 2005 - 2011
  • Table 29 – Total broadband subscribers – 2005 - 2012
  • Table 30 – Broadband subscribers – total market by access technology – 2005 - 2011
  • Table 31 – Broadband market by access technology – annual change – 2005 - 2011
  • Table 32 – Telco providers market share by sector – 2010
  • Table 33 – Forecast broadband market share by technology – 2005; 2010; 2015
  • Table 34 – Plans for convergence of data and voice networks – 2005; 2008 - 2009
  • Table 35 – Broadband subscribers – market shares (cable, ADSL, wireless totals) – 2005 - 2011
  • Table 36 – Broadband market share by technology and annual change – 2008 - 2011
  • Table 37 – Total business and residential broadband DSL subscribers – 2007 - 2011
  • Table 38 – Number of infrastructure providers by number of ADSL-enabled exchanges – 2007 - 2008; 2010 - 2011
  • Table 39 – Number of DSLAMs by major provider – 2007 - 2011
  • Table 40 – Number of ADSL and ADSL2+-enabled exchanges – 2011
  • Table 41 – Broadband DSL retail subscribers by major provider – 2007 - 2011
  • Table 42 – Cable subscribers versus other technologies – 2009 - 2010
  • Table 43 – Cable broadband subscribers by major operator and annual change – 2002 - 2011
  • Table 44 – Forecast home network penetration of households - 2005; 2007; 2008; 2010; 2015
  • Table 45 – Homes connected to fibre – 2005 - 2010
  • Table 46 – FttH communities in Australia and New Zealand by provider – 2010
  • Table 47 – Percentage breakdown of FttH communities by provider – 2010
  • Table 48 – Fixed broadband access among internet households – selected countries – 2006 - 2011
  • Table 49 – International connection speed to Australia – 2010
  • Table 50 – Market penetration of households with broadband access as a percentage of all households – Australia and selected countries – 2009 - 2010
  • Table 51 – Business uptake of broadband in Australia and New Zealand – 2003 - 2010
  • Table 52 – Revenue mix – residential market – 2010
  • Table 53 – Changes in usage of non-voice applications on 3G handsets – 2010
  • Table 54 – Businesses accessing the internet, by technology – 2010
  • Table 55 – Telco product mix of customer spend – 2010
  • Table 56 – Business and government market spending – 2010
  • Table 57 – Providers’ market share – 2010
  • Table 58 – SME computer equipment ownership trends – 1999 - 2010
  • Table 59 – SME computer equipment ownership trends by type – 1999 - 2010
  • Table 60 – SME computer software and hardware expenditure and annual change – 2006 - 2010
  • Table 61 – Visitors to top fifteen web properties worldwide – 2009 - 2010
  • Table 62 – Worldwide transaction value of m-payments – 2008; 2012 - 2013
  • Table 63 – Number of consumers worldwide using m-payment services – 2008 - 2012
  • Table 64 – Worldwide transaction value of NFC m-payments – 2009; 2012
  • Table 65 – Number of mobile banking users worldwide – 2008; 2014
  • Table 66 – Forecast mobile banking users – Asia-Pacific; North America and Europe – 2014
  • Table 67 – Mobile banking users in the USA – 2007; 2009
  • Table 68 – Worldwide advertising spending- all mediums – 2008 - 2012
  • Table 69 – Worldwide advertising spend versus online advertising spend – 2009 - 2010
  • Table 70 – Worldwide online advertising spending – 2007 - 2012
  • Table 71 – Most popular forms of online advertising
  • Table 72 – Western Europe mobile ad spending – 2009 - 2012
  • Table 73 – Asia-Pacific mobile ad spending – 2009 - 2012
  • Table 74 – Asia - growth of Hulu video streams – various months – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 75 – Worldwide in-game advertising spending – 2007 - 2009; 2013
  • Table 76 – Worldwide social network advertising spending – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 77 – USA social network advertising spending – 2008 - 2009
  • Table 78 – USA online advertising revenues - top four portals – 2008 - 2011
  • Table 79 – Most popular formats for receiving news in the USA – 2010
  • Table 80 – Fastest growing e-commerce sectors in the USA – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 81 – Online retail sales in the USA – 2003 - 2010
  • Table 82 – Mobile banking users in the USA – 2007 - 2010
  • Table 83 – Breakdown of e-commerce users in China – 2009
  • Table 84 – Estimated value of B2C e-commerce market in China – 2005 - 2011
  • Table 85 – Estimated value of C2C e-commerce market in China – 2005 - 2011
  • Table 86 – Australian consumer/end-user spending – 2007 - 2012
  • Table 87 – Australian consumer/end-user spending – annual growth by industry – 2008 - 2012
  • Table 88 – Share of consumer spending by industry sector – 2006; 2011
  • Table 89 – Top five uses of the Internet by businesses – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 90 – Business use of mobile internet – 2009 - 2010
  • Table 91 – Business internet income – 2007 - 2012
  • Table 92 – Overview of business websites online – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 93 – Overview of business’ online transactions – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 94 – Location of businesses’ online customers – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 95 – Overview of businesses online sales – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 96 – Selling over the Internet by industry sector – 2010
  • Table 97 – Estimated coupon website revenue – 2010 - 2014
  • Table 98 – Mobile transactions on eBay by phone type – 2010
  • Table 99 – Mobile transactions on eBay – 2010
  • Table 100 – eBay membership growth in Australia 1999; 2003 - 2004; 2006; 2009 - 2010
  • Table 101 – E-readiness and digital rankings of Australia – 2007 - 2010
  • Table 102 – Estimated market share – electronic mobile payments of total prepaid – 2002 - 2010
  • Table 103 – Major electronic payment providers and estimated market share – 2010
  • Table 104 – Estimated electronic payment market revenues – 2007 - 2011
  • Table 105 – Estimated breakdown of prepaid electronic payment market revenues – 2009
  • Table 106 – Australian advertising spending – 2007 - 2012
  • Table 107 – Australian advertising spending – annual growth by industry – 2008 - 2012
  • Table 108 – Share of advertising revenue by industry sector – 2006; 2011
  • Table 109 – Total households with home Internet access – 2008 - 2011; 2015
  • Table 110 – Market shares of key online advertising markets – 2008 - 2011
  • Table 111 – Online advertising expenditure and forecasts – 1997 - 2015
  • Table 112 – Online advertising expenditure in the email and video sector – 2009 - 2011
  • Table 113 – Online paid search advertising revenue – 2005 - 2006; 2010
  • Table 114 – Australian entertainment and media market – revenue by industry – 2007 - 2012
  • Table 115 – Australian entertainment and media market – annual growth by industry – 2008 - 2012
  • Table 116 – Australian entertainment and media market – revenue by industry – 2006 - 2008; 2011
  • Table 117 – Australian entertainment and media market – annual growth by industry – 2007 - 2008; 2011
  • Table 118 – Australian entertainment and media market – consumer/end user spending by industry – 2006 - 2008; 2011
  • Table 119 – Australian entertainment and media market – consumer/end user annual growth by industry – 2007 - 2008; 2011
  • Table 120 – Australian entertainment and media market – advertising spending by industry – 2006 - 2008; 2011
  • Table 121 – Australian entertainment and media market – advertising annual growth by industry – 2007 - 2008; 2011
  • Table 122 – Nielsen Online top Australian websites by unique audience – 2009 - 2010
  • Table 123 – Top ten Australian websites by unique audience – 2009 - 2011
  • Table 124 – Reasons for accessing comparision websites – 2010
  • Table 125 – Use of social networking sites by demographic – 2008 - 2010
  • Table 126 – Total households with home Internet access – 2006 - 2010
  • Table 127 – Social networking in the workplace – 2009 - 2010
  • Chart 1 – Total households with home Internet access – 1999 - 2010
  • Chart 2 – Business trends in Internet connections – 1995 - 2010
  • Chart 3 – Employees' work locations – 2008 - 2010
  • Chart 4 – Consumer Internet usage hours by category – 2006; 2010
  • Chart 5 – Number of ISPs – 1995 - 2012
  • Chart 6 – Number of ISPs by major technology – 2009 - 2011
  • Chart 7 – The top six ISPs with excellent customer service satisfaction ratings – 2009 - 2011
  • Chart 8 – Total complaints to the TIO – 2006 - 2010
  • Chart 9 – Consumer and SME complaints to the TIO by industry sector – 2009 - 2010
  • Chart 10 – Forecast broadband revenues – 2005; 2010; 2015
  • Chart 11 – Broadband access revenues by major provider – 2005 - 2011
  • Chart 12 – Annual change in broadband access revenues by major provider – 2007 - 2011
  • Chart 13 – Market share of broadband access revenues by major provider – 2005 - 2011
  • Chart 14 – Total broadband subscribers – 2000 - 2012
  • Chart 15 – Estimated market share by provider – 2010
  • Chart 16 – Forecast broadband market share by technology – 2005; 2010; 2015
  • Chart 17 – Total business and residential broadband DSL subscribers – 2006 - 2011
  • Chart 18 – Number of DSLAMs by top 5 providers – 2010 - 2011
  • Chart 19 – Number of ADSL and ADSL2+ enabled exchanges – 2011
  • Chart 20 – Cable subscribers versus other technologies – 2009 - 2010
  • Chart 21 – Cable broadband subscribers by major operator and annual change – 2002 - 2011
  • Chart 22 – Business uptake of broadband in Australia and New Zealand – 2003 - 2010
  • Chart 23 – Changes in usage of non-voice applications on 3G handsets – 2010
  • Chart 24 – Businesses accessing the internet, by technology – 2010
  • Chart 25 – SME computer equipment ownership trends by type – 1999 - 2010
  • Chart 26 – SME versus medium-sized business computer expenditure – 2007 - 2010
  • Chart 27 – Opportunities for technology growth by SMEs – 2011
  • Chart 28 – Top five uses of the Internet by businesses – 2008 - 2010
  • Chart 29 – Top five business uses of mobile Internet – 2009 - 2010
  • Chart 30 – Business internet income – 2007 - 2012
  • Chart 31 – Percentages of businesses online – 2008 - 2010
  • Chart 32 – Top five items bought by SMEs using the Internet – 2008 - 2010
  • Chart 33 – Business internet customers by location – 2008 - 2010
  • Chart 34 – Internet selling by SMEs – 2008 - 2010
  • Chart 35 – Estimated coupon website revenue – 2010 - 2014
  • Chart 36 – The growth of eBay members in Australia – 1999; 2003 - 2004; 2006; 2009 - 2010
  • Chart 37 – E-readiness and digital rankings of Australia – 2007 - 2010
  • Chart 38 – Mobile online advertising revenue – 2008 - 2011; 2015
  • Chart 39 – Online advertising expenditure and forecasts – 1997 - 2015
  • Chart 40 – Online advertising expenditure in the email and video sector – 2009 - 2011
  • Chart 41 – Paid search advertising revenue – 2005 - 2006; 2010
  • Chart 42 – Visitors to top news websites for election coverage – 2010
  • Chart 43 – Use of price comparison websites – 2010
  • Chart 44 – Use of social networking sites by demographic – 2008 - 2010
  • Chart 45 – Social networking trends among children – 2008 - 2010