Australian downloads increase by a third over six months

CANBERRA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The total volume of data downloaded in Australia topped half a million terabytes (TB) for the first time in a quarter, with more than 550,000 TB being downloaded during the last three months of 2012, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Tuesday.

That's an increase of 33 percent compared with the June 2012 quarter, driven by increasing numbers of internet subscribers and faster internet speeds.

ABS Director of the Innovation and Technology Statistics Branch, Diane Braskic, said today's statistics showed continued growth of internet downloads in Australia.

"The growth in data downloads is consistent with factors such as increased subscriber numbers, the continuing move away from Dial-up, and the emergence of technologies that enable faster internet".

"Throughout 2012 the number of internet subscribers increased 5. 0 percent to a total of almost 12.2 million," she said.

The survey also revealed an increase in mobile handset internet usage. "Data downloaded by mobile handset subscribers increased by 38 percent to 13,700 TB, however this still represents a relatively small proportion of total data downloads," Braskic said.