Broadband subscribers top 1 million

The total number of broadband subscribers was more than one million in June 2009, Statistics New Zealand said today. This is an increase of 27 percent since the survey was last run in March 2008.

Internet users can access faster download speeds through broadband than with dial-up technology.

Broadband subscribers now make up nearly three-quarters of all Internet subscribers.

"While half of all broadband subscribers have a data cap or allowance of less than 5 gigabytes (GB), we are seeing an increase in the number of subscribers with larger data caps," said Statistics NZ manager Gary Dunnet. The number of broadband subscribers with a data cap of 20GB or more has tripled to 126,000. A user would be able to watch about 100 hours of streaming video with a monthly data cap of 20GB.

The number of subscribers using mobile data cards, cable, or satellite technology to connect to the Internet increased by 53 percent to 220,000. These users make up one-fifth of the total number of broadband users.
This survey is now conducted annually each June in order to produce internationally comparable statistics.
More information about individual use of the Internet will be available in April 2010.