NZ doubles its demand for internet data

The Commerce Commission report showed that both mobile and fixed-line internet data use doubled last year. Photo / Thinkstock

Demand for internet data doubled in the year ending June 2012 and competition between telecommunications companies heated up over the 12-month period, the Commerce Commission said today.

The Commerce Commission this morning released its annual telecommunications market monitoring report and said that both mobile and fixed-line internet data use doubled last year.

In compiling the report, the Commission used information provided for the 12 months ending June 30 2012, although more up-to-date industry data was used where possible.

According to the report, the average fixed-line internet connection consumed 19 gigabytes (GB) of data per month during the period in question, up from 10 GB a month the year before.

"The 2012 year was characterised by an upswing in consumer demand for data and intensified competition between telecommunications providers, leading to successive launches of more competitive plans in all sectors. The new plans usually featured more data, and more minutes and texts where relevant," the report said.

Across the period, New Zealanders spent some 10 billion minutes on fixed-line phone calls and 4.35 billion minutes talking on their mobile phones.

About 14 billion text messages were sent over the 12 months.

New Zealand had 1.24 million fixed-line broadband connections and 4.9 million mobile connections, the report said.

Revenue in the mobile retail market was $2.38 billion in the year ending June 30 2012, up from $2.14 the year before.

The report said that total telecommunications revenue in the retail market was $5.22 billion, up from $5.03 billion the year before.

In both the fixed-line and mobile market revenue from voice calls were down over the period, while revenue from broadband was up. Mobile broadband revenue was growing quickly and reached $354 million in 2011/12.

Over the 12 months, investment in telecommunications showed a "mild rebound", the report said.

Although down on the peak investment of $1.69 billion in the 2008/09 year, telcos invested $1.26 billion in 2011/12, the report said.