KEY POINTS:
We still might not be beating the Aussies in the cricket or the medal haul at the Olympics, but when it comes to internet use, New Zealand is world class.
However, we are less in love with our mobile phones than the Australians and residents of many other countries.
According to the United Nations 2006 Human Development report, Kiwis use the internet more than anyone else, with 78 per cent going online.
This compares with Australia where 65 per cent of people are internet users. In the United States - where the internet was invented - just 63 per cent of people are online.
It seems internet use goes hand-in-hand with being at the ends of the Earth. The countries which come second and third behind New Zealand are Iceland ( 77 per cent) and Sweden (76 per cent).
The mobile phone situation is quite different.
New Zealand is far down world rankings of mobile phone ownership.
According to the UN report, released last month, 745 out of every 1000 New Zealanders had a mobile phone in 2004, compared with 818 out of every 1000 Australians.
Even in Jamaica the mobile- to-population ratio was far greater.
A Vodafone spokeswoman says it now has 2.1 million New Zealand customers. Telecom has 1.8 million people signed up for mobiles.
The report found that the mobile-to-population ratio is greatest in Hong Kong, where there are 1184 mobiles for every 1000 people. Other countries that scored highly were Israel, Italy, the Czech Republic, Britain and Sweden.
