Aussies hungry for faster Internet

Figures show twice as many Australians now on superfast broadband

Australia’s demand for superfast broadband and the need for better fixed-line telecommunications infrastructure is growing, NBN Co said.

It referred to the recent Internet Activity Australia Report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS), which showed the nation’s appetite for 100 mbps broadband services has more than doubled over the past year.

The figures confirmed that the number of subscribers to a 100mbps or above broadband connection at June 2012 increased 138 per cent as compared to June 2011, and 1.5 million people use an Internet connection faster than the maximum speeds available on ADSL2+.

NBN Co chief technology officer, Gary McLaren, said the statistics demonstrated Australians want the NBN and why connecting fibre directly to homes and businesses is the right choice.

"More people are downloading more and more data over fixed-line networks – you only have to look at the amount of videos, high resolution images, music, large documents and games people are downloading at home and in the office,” he said.

McLaren claimed the amount of high definition videos being watched by Australians is expected to further expand by more than 10 times by 2020, stressing the need to upgrade its fixed line services to keep up with the growing demand. “The stats show that whether people are browsing on a tablet or watching YouTube on their smartphone, 92 per cent of their downloads are via fixed line connections, even if they're using Wi-Fi," he said.

It also showed downloads over fixed line services are growing faster – 53 per cent year on year – than over wireless, at 40 per cent.

Only eight per cent of downloads were recorded to be done over wireless broadband and mobile handsets.

NBN Co announced that the rollout of the NBN is well underway and construction is forecast to have commenced or be complete for 3.5 million premises by mid-2015, in line with the three year rollout plan.

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