Streaming users make the most of unlimited data

Despite a worldwide drop in subscribers, global demand for video on demand has continued to increase. Photo / File

Unlimited data plans are dominating the internet market with almost half of all New Zealand broadband connections unlimited - up 43 per cent on last year.

The latest data from Statistics New Zealand showed the unlimited data plans coincided with a significant increase in the amount of data used by broadband connections compared with 2015.

In the month of June 2016, residential and business connections used over 143,000 terabytes - a 70 per cent increase from the same month the year before.

"Residential broadband connections in New Zealand used an average of 88 gigabytes each during the month of June 2016," business performance senior manager Jason Attewell said.

"That's equivalent to 85 hours of video or TV streaming. Kiwis are really making the most of their unlimited data plans, considering that half of the broadband connections in June 2016 had no data cap."

Attewell said the increase in data usage was likely a result of the increasing number of streaming services available, including Netflix, Lightbox and Neon. Telecommunications services were also 20 per cent cheaper in June 2016 than in June 2011.

"It's never been cheaper to have unlimited data plans, and there are so many options for how to use the data - watching movies, streaming music, creating and sharing content, and communicating with friends and family," Attewell said.

"A few years ago only five per cent of us had uncapped broadband connections, so it's exciting to think where we could be in another few years."

Fibre connections in New Zealand also continued to grow. Fibre now makes up 12
per cent of all broadband connections in New Zealand, compared with 5 per cent of broadband connections a year ago.

More than 200,000 broadband connections are now fibre - more than double the number of connections last year.