New Zealanders using more online data on faster connections in 2014

Tuesday 14th October 2014

New Zealanders have upped their data use more than half in the last year, while the uptake of faster internet connections trebled, according to Statistics New Zealand.

The amount of data used rose 53 percent to a record 53,000 terabytes, the equivalent of 12 gigabytes per kiwi, in the year ended June 2014, compared to a year earlier, according to the Internet Service Provider Survey by Statistics NZ. Copper connections, the most common internet connection, increased 11 percent to 1.3 million, while adoption of fibre-optic cable services, the fastest internet provider, more than trebled to 46,000 in 2014, from 13,000 a year earlier.

"The amount of data used was equivalent to streaming over 12 million high-definition super-hero movies," Jason Attewell, international and business performance statistics manager said. "Fibre is synonymous with faster internet. While copper connections still dominate the broadband market, fibre has jumped."

If uptake of optic fibre continues at the current pace it will overtake copper connections within five years, according to the survey.

In 2012, the government established Crown Fibre Holdings to fund its ultra-fast broadband roll out, while Chorus, the network operator spun out of Spark New Zealand (then Telecom Corp.), is charged with building the majority of the infrastructure nationwide. Chorus is in an ongoing dispute with the Commerce Commission over how it prices its copper lines, with the regulator ordering it to cut prices, which the network provider says leaves a $1 billion funding hole in the UFB build and will stifle the speed of UFB adoption.

Today's figures show New Zealand residential online connections, which make up 80 percent of total connections, increased 8 percent to 1.6 million in 2014, approximately 90 percent of households, from 84 percent a year earlier, Statistics NZ said.

New Zealanders accessing the internet through their phone increased 16 percent to 3.7 million connections, with four out of five kiwis carrying a connected mobile phone.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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