The content on this page and other DCITA document archive pages is provided to assist research and may contain references to activities or policies that have no current application. See the full archive disclaimer.
Characteristics of Australians accessing the Internet
- Internet subscribers
- Households with PC and Internet access at home
- Reasons for households not having Internet access
- Persons 2 years + accessing the Internet via home PC
- Persons accessing the Internet in the past month by age group
- Persons 14 years + with Internet access by site of access
- Persons 14 years + accessing the Internet by level of education
- Persons 14 years + accessing the Internet by employment status
- Persons 14 years + online in the past month by personal income level
- Persons 14 years + accessing the Internet by family type
- Persons 14 years + accessing the Internet by State / Territory
- Persons 14 years + accessing the Internet by region
- Business readiness and use of the Internet: Australia
- Business use of PCs and the Internet by region
Internet subscribers
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in the 1st Quarter of 2003, Australia had approximately 5,076,000 Internet subscribers (4.4 million households, 659,000 businesses and government agencies), an increase of 28% since the 1st Quarter of 2001. The number of household subscribers increased by 27% compared to 37% for business/government subscribers.
However, as subscriptions are accounting or billing points rather than individual users, subscriber metrics provide only a limited picture of Internet take up. The following set of data provides an overview of participation rates and the characteristics of Internet connectivity across Australia's household and business sectors. No public sector data is presented in this report, but we can assume that the majority of these agencies are already online as a result of government initiatives to deliver services online.
Households with PC and Internet access at home
The percentage of households that owned or leased a PC in Australia increased from 60% in the 4th Quarter of 2000 to 65% in the 2nd Quarter of 2003. A high level of PC ownership in the community is instrumental in promoting greater participation in the information economy, as PCs still remain the most common technology used for Internet access.
The percentage of households with Internet access at home in Australia has stabilised in the last two years, showing a marginal increase in the 2nd Quarter of 2003 (from 54% to 55% or approximately 4 million households). Internet access at home, in this case, includes access through devices such as home and work computers, Palm Pilot technology, TV and mobile phone. The gap between PC households and Internet households has remained persistently around 10 percentage points for much of 2002 and 2003.
Reasons for households not having Internet access
High costs (26%) and lack of interest (25%) were the most frequently reported reasons for households not being connected to the Internet in Australia in 2002. 16% of these households had no use for the Internet, while a further 7% had Internet access elsewhere (work, school, etc).
Persons 2 years + accessing the Internet via home PC
The percentage of persons aged 2 years or more accessing the Internet via a home computer in Australia has remained relatively high from the 4th Quarter 2001 (57%) through to the 2nd Quarter 2003 (58%). This trend seems to indicate that Australia has reached a level of maturity in home Internet access, a situation experienced by most industrialised economies following the strong rates of growth typical of early stages of technology adoption.
Persons accessing the Internet in the past month by age group
The 3 reference periods considered in the graph above are December 2000, December 2001 and June 2003. During these periods the proportion of Australians aged 14 years and over who used the Internet from any site increased from 44% in December 2000 to 52% in December 2001, finally reaching 59% in June 2003, equal to a increase of 34% over the entire period. All age groups experienced increasing levels of online participation, with persons aged 55 years or more years recording the highest proportional increase in Internet use (61%).
Persons 14 years + with Internet access by site of access
Home is the preferred point of Internet access for the majority of Internet users aged 14 years or more in Australia (76% of users in 2001 and 85% in 2003), more than twice the proportion of persons accessing the Internet from work or other sites.
Persons 14 years + accessing the Internet by level of education
From June 2001 to June 2003, the level of Internet use increased significantly irrespective of educational attainment. However, higher educational levels equate with higher rates of Internet access. The highest level of Internet use was recorded amongst persons with tertiary qualifications (85% for June 2003 and 77% for June 2001.
Persons 14 years + accessing the Internet by employment status
Just as for level of education, work force status also impacts levels of Internet use. For both periods, persons in full-time employment had significantly higher levels of Internet use (75% and 61% respectively) than part-time workers (66% and 54% respectively) and persons not working (45% and 36% respectively).
Persons 14 years + online in the past month by personal income level
Analysis of personal income data confirms that Internet use is highly correlated to levels of disposable income.
In June 2003, more than 90% of persons earning in excess of $100,000 used the Internet, while only 36% of persons with a personal income from $10,000 to $14,999 used the Internet.
Persons 14 years + accessing the Internet by family type
In Australia, persons who are members of younger or older families access the Internet more than persons in other family types. This may be the result of a number of factors, including the presence of school age or older children attending post secondary education in these families. In general terms, persons in older families are also likely to have higher levels of disposable income than persons in young families.
Persons 14 years + accessing the Internet by State / Territory
In June 2003, Western Australia and Victoria (60% each) had the highest percentage of Internet users amongst Australian States and Territories. Increases in Internet use in all States and Territories in the period considered ranged from 18% in Tasmania to 26% in Queensland.
Persons 14 years + accessing the Internet by region
In June 2003, 62% of persons aged 14 years + in metropolitan areas in Australia used the Internet compared to 51% in June 2001. This represented an increase of 22%. In the rest of Australia, the percentage of persons using the Internet also increased from 42% in June 2001 to 53% in June 2003, an increase of 26%.
Business readiness and use of the Internet: Australia
Australian businesses are playing a critical role in the development of the information economy through the strategic application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to core business activities such as supply-chain management and customer service delivery. While both areas have significant potential for sustained productivity growth and ultimately, return on investment, it is in the area of electronic service delivery that the greatest potential exists for facilitating widespread and intensive use of the Internet amongst Australians in general.The emergence of web based electronic service delivery in areas such as e-government, banking and finance, bill payment, general retail, entertainment, education and general information, is shaping Internet use and influencing more Australians to go online. Electronic service delivery is now a key component of organisational business plans, providing opportunities to reach out to markets not normally accessible through traditional communication channels which are unable to offer the convenience of twenty four hour service or the visual sophistication of the World Wide Web.
If a certain level of technological sophistication is a necessity in terms of participating in the information economy, then the following section on technology use by Australian businesses will provide some insight into their preparedness to deliver services online. The metrics presented relate to the adoption and application of core ICTs such as computers, the Internet and web sites.
On the basis of available ABS data, business use of computers and the Internet was already very high at June 2002, in excess of 80% and 70% of businesses respectively. However, as with technology adoption in the household sector, levels of technology usage varied on the basis of the operating characteristics of businesses (ie employer size and industry of operation).
For businesses with more than 19 employees, the ABS found that PC and Internet penetration levels were already in excess of 90% while for businesses with 5-19 employees, computer and Internet use was above 90% and 80% respectively.
While technology usage amongst micro businesses (less than 5 employees) was at least 12 percentage points behind other businesses, PC and Internet usage amongst these businesses was still high, nearly 80% in terms of computer usage and 65% in terms of Internet use.
Industry sectors such as property & business services (87%), finance and insurance (84%), mining (81%) and cultural and recreational services (80%) had the highest level of Internet use compared to personal & other services (53%), accommodation, cafes & restaurants (57%), which had the lowest levels of Internet use.
Business use of PCs and the Internet by region
Characteristics such as firm size and industry of operation seemed to be more important in terms of technology usage levels than factors such as region. In fact there is little or marginal difference between businesses located in metropolitan or non-metropolitan areas in terms of the usage of main stream ICTs such as computers or the Internet. While some variation exists on the basis of the number of persons employed by a business, it is clear that the majority of businesses already regard these technologies as essential, complementing technologies such as the telephone or fax.
