Statistics NZ has found large numbers of people using their mobile phone to access the internet.

According to a report released today, in the three months prior to 30 June 2011, 1.9 million New Zealanders had active Internet subscriptions via a cellphone.

Of that 1.9 million, 195,800 were dedicated data plans.

“This reflects the developments in Internet-accessible devices such as tablets, pocket wi-fi and smartphones,” ICT Statistics Manager Jean Watt said.

The Stats NZ figure reflects numbers coming from the carriers.

Vodafone general manager of networks Tony Baird recently told NBR his customers downloaded a collective 135 terabytes (135,000 gigabytes) in the 12 months to June this year, compared to 60GB in the year to June 2010.

The big driver was social networking, Mr Baird said, with Facebook accounting for 50% of mobile data use. Vodafone and Telecom have introduced unmetered and low-cost options for accessing social networks over the past 12 months.

This year is the first that Stats NZ has collected mobile internet data.

Other key findings for June 2010 to June 2011:

• The total number of broadband subscribers increased by 14%, to almost 1.5 million between June 2010 and June 2011.
• The largest growth rate of all broadband connections was in cellular, cable, and satellite connections. When combined, these increased almost 50 percent since June 2010.
• Almost 80% of broadband subscribers at June 2011 had a data cap of 5 gigabytes (GB) or more, with the most common cap between 5GB and 20GB.
• The number of subscribers with an upload speed of 1.5Mbps or more increased by almost three quarters since 2010.
• 99% of broadband subscribers are subject to a data cap.
• The average subscriber consumed 9GB of data per month between June 2010 and June 2011

Statistics NZ surveyed all New Zealand internet service proividers. "However confidentiality measures, such as rounding, have been applied to the numbers to protect individual businesses from being identified," one of the agency's analysts told NBR.

Click to zoom. 1). Includes digital subscriber line [DSL], cellular (does not include mobile phone connections – see table 7), wireless, cable, satellite, and fibre optic. Excludes analogue and ISDN. 2. Includes business and residential subscribers. Excludes subscribers with unknown speeds.

Click to enlarge.

RAW DATA
Internet Service Provider Survey: 2011 (full Statistics NZ report; PDF)
Associated Excel tables are here.