ACMA report: more Aussies accessing internet via mobiles
More online adult Australians are accessing the internet over their mobile phone. They now make up 79% of users, compared to 76% last year.
At the same time, the amount of Aussies going online over tablet computers has risen from 54% to 58%.
This is according to the Australian Communications And Media Authority (ACMA)’s 2014-15 report.
This comes as use of mobile services (voice and data) in operation increased by 2.5% to 31.77 million. 94% of adult Australians have a mobile phone. At May 2015, 13.41 million used a smartphone, up from 12.07 million at May 2014.
The amount of data downloaded over mobile handsets was up 85% since last year, from the quarter to June 2014 to the quarter to June 2015.
Australians are increasingly embracing over-the-top (OTT) communications services – as Skype, Facebook Messenger and Facetime – which this year expanded with streaming services as Netflix Australia, Stan and Presto.
34% now watch online television or online professionally produced video content in a given week. But traditional free-to-air and subscription television continues to dominate Australians’ content viewing.
54% of online Australians aged 18 and over use an app to communicate with others online. This breaks up to 49% sending messages, 28% making voice calls and 25% making video calls.
Traditional free-to-air and subscription television continues to dominate Australians’ content viewing. On average, 85% of adult Australians in the five major capital cities watched at least five minutes consecutively of free-to-air television (live and time-shifted) each week. In the combined regional markets, the figure was 84%.
In an average seven-day period to June 2015, 88% of adult Australians listened to some radio.
This year 34% of Australian adults also watched online television or online video content in a given week.
Of downloads and streaming Australians downloaded 1,460,269 terabytes of data in the June quarter 2015—a 41% increase on the June quarter 2014. The average mobile phone internet user downloaded 3.4 GB of data in the quarter ending June 2015, compared to 207 GB for the average fixed-line broadband user.
66% accessed online video content, and 52% listened to audio content online.
In a given week (June 2015), 11% of Australian adults watched Netflix Australia and .9 million accessed a VoIP service. According to the report, the use of social networking and instant messaging were both up 4%, to 65% and 42% respectively.