Broadband use soars to 1.1m subscribers

There's been a 27 per cent increase in the number of broadband subscribers in New Zealand over the past 15 months, says Statistics NZ.

Broadband subscriber numbers rose 27 per cent in the 15 months to June to 1.1 million, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) says.

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

SNZ manager Gary Dunnet said that while half of all broadband subscribers had a data cap or allowance of less than 5 gigabytes (GB), the number of subscribers with larger data caps was increasing.

The number of broadband subscribers with a data cap of 20GB or more had tripled to 126,000, he said.

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 per cent to 220,000 - a fifth of the total number of broadband users.

The information came out of a survey of internet service providers, previously collected in March and September, but with the timing changed for the latest survey top fit in with an OECD timeframe.

- NZPA