ACMA Communications report 2011–12

Statutory reporting requirements on the ACMA

> The ACMA Communications report 2011–12 tabled in Parliament on 6th December 2012 is the 7th edition to be published since the ACMA’s establishment on 1 July 2005.

> The communications report incorporates the statutory reporting

requirement under the Section 105 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act).

> The reporting program continues to evolve in response to the requirements of the Act —give reference to ‘world’s best indicators’ and the growing pace of change within the communications and media sectors as a consequence of convergence and the emerging digital economy.

Key themes:

1. changing industry structures―mergers and acquisitions

2. the continuing shift to mobiles and IP services

3. mobile devices leading convergence―the rise of the smartphone

4. mobile services dominating growth in the internet service market but NBN emerging

5. all roads lead to the internet―device and service innovation and growth in intensity of online participation

6. rollout of key digital economy infrastructure gathering pace

7. the internet posing a challenge to existing business models and an opportunity for new service innovation

8. Australians extracting real benefit from the digital economy.

Vividwireless

Fixed-line telephone SIOs―a small but steady decline (mostly in the residential services area)

Mobile SIOs increased by 3% during 2011–12 compared to 13% during 2010–11

Communications services used in the six months to May 2012

Texting fr

om a public payphone

Voice ca

lls fro

m a public payphone

Instant m

essaging

Internet te

lephony (e.g. V

oIP, Skype)

Social n

etworking (e

.g. Face

book, Blogging)

Fixed-lin

e telephone at h

ome

Texting fr

om a mobile

phoneEmail

Mobile phone ca

lls

28

3542

52

78 81 8391

% o

f per

sons

age

d 18

yea

rs a

nd o

ver

Most used communication service-six months to May 2012

ALL 18–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–64 65+ Age group

9

2515

9 4 2 3

21

316

21 28 3319

22

4431

25 20 14

6

26

26

3234

31

22

13

22

2 6 1118

29

59

Fixed-line tele-phone at home

Mobile phone calls

Texting from a mobile phone

Email

Other*% o

f pop

ulati

on a

ged

18 y

ears

+

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

Jun-08 Jun-09 Jun-10 Jun-11 Jun-12

1,575

2,107

2,759

3,602

4,342

1,153

1,624

2,244

2,970

3,610

385 397 461 546564

26 47 84264

616

142386

TOTAL use VoIP

Computer

Internet phone or voice box/adaptor

Mobile phone

Tablet (e.g. iPad)

Pers

ons a

ged

18 y

ears

and

ove

r ('0

00s)

Most VoIP activity OTT (e.g. Skype). Mobile VoIP increasing by 133 per cent

(+21 per cent)

Mobile phone only consumers

Jun-08 Jun-09 Jun-10 Jun-11 Jun-12

1,150

1,533

2,038

2,531

3,129

Pers

ons a

ged

18 y

ears

and

ove

r ('0

00)

MPO consumers increased by 24 per cent during 2011–12.

MPO consumers now account for about18 per cent of the adult population.

Mobile internet subscribers

Mobile handset internet Mobile wireless (dongle, datacard, USB modems)

8,197

4,230

13,323

4,786

15,190

5,491

16,192

5,862

Dec-10 Jun-11 Dec-11 Jun-12

Num

ber o

f sub

scrib

ers (

'000

s)

Importance of the internet to underpinning growth in the mobile services market―handset subscribers up nearly 22% compared to 23% for mobile dongle, USB, datacard service

Mobile phone internet use and handset type

ALL 18–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–64 65+ Age group

49

74 74

57

48

33

15

51

76 78

63

50

30

17

66

91 88

79

64

51

30

9299 98 97 94

88

77

Have a smartphone Use the internet via their mobileHave a 3G phone Use a mobile phone

% o

f per

sons

age

d 18

yea

rs a

nd o

ver

Devices used to access the internet

Laptop computer

Desktop computer

Mobile phone

Tablet computer (e.g. iPad)

Television Other games console

(e.g. Xbox, Playstation,

Wii)

Mp3 player (e.g. iPod

touch)

Portable games console

(e.g. PSP, Nintendo

DS)

7873

61

29

1916 14

10

% o

f in

tern

et u

sers

ag

ed

18

ye

ars

an

d o

ver

Main devices used to access the internet

18–24 25–34 35–44 45–54 55–64 65+2 2 1 02 1 3 2 1 1

3 5 7 6 3 4

21 24 126

2 2

2426

3447

4955

47 42 41 3843

34

Laptop computer

Desktop computer

Mobile phone

Tablet computer (e.g. iPad)

Television

Other

Age group

% o

f int

erne

t use

rs a

ged

18 y

ears

+

Internet service market

Digital economy infrastructure-NBN

Fibre to the premises: Brownfields*

Fibre to the premises: New developments

Fixed wireless and Interim satellite service

28,860

10,054

173,885

3,364 5039,669

Premises passed/covered Premises activated

Num

ber o

f pre

mise

s

NBN forecasts

Reporting period Premises/lots passed

Premises connected

2012–13 661,000 14%

2013–14 1.68 million 33%

2014–15 3.66 million 44%

2015–16 5.53 million 58%

Digital economy infrastructure-4G

Major developments relating to the roll-out of 4G during 2011–12 : Telstra:

o In September 2011, became the first mobile network operator to begin commercial service on its 4G network.

o Reported that at June 2012, its 4G network covered 40 per cent of the Australia population with more than 375,000 4G devices activated.

Optus:o In February 2012, acquired network assets through

purchase of Vividwireless (2.3 GHz wireless spectrum).o In April 2012, undertook a ‘soft’ launch of its 4G network in

Newcastle/Hunter Valley region of NSW.

Volume of data downloaded-total

Dec-10 Jun-11 Dec-11 Jun-12

Fixed-line broadband 174665 254947 322280 389130

Wireless* broadband 16990 19149 23142 25301

Mobile handset 4029 3695 5000 6610

Dial-up 183 106 96 NaN

195,867

277,897

350,518

Quarter ending

Tera

byte

s

421,147

CONTEXT: The volume of data downloaded during the June quarter of 2012 was 52 per cent higher than in the June quarter of 2011. 421,147 terabytes of data is equivalent to 110,247 HD movies or 53,309,746 high-quality songs.

Average volume of data downloaded by technology type

Fixed broadband Wireless broadband Mobile handset

47.2

3.90.4

69.5

4.20.4

Quarter ending Jun-11 Quarter ending Jun-12

Aver

age

volu

me

of d

ata

dow

nloa

ded

(Gig

abyt

es)

CONTEXT: During the June quarter of 2012, the average amount of data down loaded by a FB subscriber was17 x that of a WB subscriber and 170 x that of a MPH sub-scriber.

Intensity of online participation

Jun-08 Jun-09 Jun-10 Jun-11 Jun-120

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

7,1958,094

8,89510,033

10,816

48%52%

56%60%

62%

Num

ber o

f per

sons

age

d 14

yea

rs a

nd o

ver (

'000

s)

% o

f onl

ine

popu

latio

n

8%↑

Growth in online content services

Downloaded feature-length movie

Downloaded video clips

Downloaded TV programs

Streamed radio

Streamed TV (e.g., ABC iView)†

Streamed music

Streamed video (e.g.,YouTube)*

455

1,347

625

796

355

757

515

1,433

787

709

568

1,009

2,314

612

1,580

974

912

1,056

1,202

2,631

918

1,141

1,161

1,224

1,556

2,058

4,395

Jun-12Jun-11Jun-10Jun-09

Numbers of persons aged 14 years and over ('000s)

Streaming of content has seen signi-ficant increases across all content cat-egories (video streaming up 67%, streaming of music up 71%, use of catch-up services up 47%).

Growth in Australians accessing news online

Google NewsBigPond NewsAdelaideNowNYTimes.com

TelegraphThe Guardian

CNN Digital NetworkmailOnline

brisbanetimes.com.auThe Australian

couriermail.com.authetelegraph.com.au

ABC news websitesBBC

The Herald SunThe Age

News.com.auYahoo!7 News - 7News websites

smh.com.auninemsn Nine News

654671688691734

847912

1,0191,089

1,2201,2821,3311,3951,436

2,3212,358

2,7672,781

3,0933,235

Online audience ('000) during June 2012

How to extract value from online news audiences?

Growth in online advertising

Jun-09 Jun-10 Jun-11 Jun-12

49

4543

37

2629 28 28

1516

19

24

7 7 7 7

3 3 3 41 1 1 1

Print media

Television

Online

Radio

Outdoor

Cinema

% o

f tot

al a

dver

tisin

g ex

pend

iture

Importance of internet to undertaking daily activities

Making dinner (e.g. getting recipes online)

Watching TV

Watching a video

Shopping

Purchasing movie/theatre/concert tickets etc.

Listening to music

Planning a social activity

Reading the news

Checking the weather forecast

Paying bills

Checking your bank balance/transferring funds

11

13

22

24

25

26

34

36

43

60

63

% of population aged 18 years and over

Benefits of the internet highly valued by Australians

64

7568

74 75 72

45

6974

59

72 73 73

45

58

69

55

69 6962

3239

48 4751 53 50

41

Research and gathering information General communications Financial transactionsEntertainment-related activities

% o

f pop

ulati

on a

ged

18 y

ears

and

ove

r

Consumer satisfaction with communication services, May 2012

Fixed-line telephone

Mobile phone Internet

Customer service+63% -12%

+60%-16%

+75%-8%

Service reliability+80%-6%

+67%-13%

+85%-5%

Call/service costs+52%-17%

+55%-18%

+72%-8%

Billing information+64%-11%

+67%-11%

+64%-12%

Line rental costs+38%-30%

n/a n/a

Internet access n/a+57%-17%

n/a

Data speeds n/a n/a+80%-7%

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