Internet Service Provider Survey
The Internet service provider (ISP) Survey provides information on the total number and nature of subscribers who use New Zealand-based ISPs to connect either permanently or regularly to the Internet. This information allows a measurement of the global connectivity of New Zealanders, which is regarded as an important determinant in accelerating economic growth and social wellbeing. This survey provides a core set of official statistics on Internet service provision. This will help individuals, communities, businesses, and government understand the role of information and communication technology in the economy and society.
This is the first release of the ISP Survey that aligns with the OECD timeframe. The survey refers to the 12 months ended June 2009. The data was previously collected in March and September each year, covering a 6-month reference period. Hence there is a 15-month gap between the previous ISP Survey and the June 2009 survey.
The number of analog subscribers should be treated with caution, as respondents have difficulty excluding inactive analog subscribers from the total amount of analog subscribers. The survey asks about the number of active subscribers. An active subscriber is a customer who accessed the Internet within 90 days before the survey was filled out, or who had paid for access to the Internet. An example of an inactive analog subscriber, is a broadband customer who has a dial-up connection as a back up.
Information is for June 2009, and for June 2009 compared with March 2008, unless otherwise stated.
Broadband subscribers and connection type
The number of broadband (non-analog) subscribers continued to grow, and exceeded 1.1 million. The growth rate had picked up since March 2008. The number of broadband subscribers made up nearly three-quarters of all subscribers (72 percent).
The digital subscriber line (DSL) was the most common broadband connection type, which is consistent with the past trend, and accounted for 77 percent of all broadband subscribers. However, the biggest proportional growth in subscribers was the connection by mobile data cards (cellular), cable or satellite, which increased by 53 percent to 220,000 subscribers. The June 2009 ISP Survey was the first time respondents were asked about fibre optic connections, and it was the least common connection type.
Data cap
The number of subscribers with a data cap continued to increase. A bigger data cap means subscribers can upload and download large amounts of data for a fixed price. There were three times as many subscribers with a data cap exceeding 20GB than 15 months ago.
The number of broadband subscribers with a data cap between 5GB and 20GB had grown over the last two years. More than one-third of all broadband subscribers had a data cap between 5GB and 20GB.
Forty-nine percent of all broadband users still had a cap of less than 5GB, compared with around 60 percent in previous years.
Six percent had no data cap, compared with 8 percent in March 2008.
Internet subscriber speed
Download speeds of faster than 512kbps attracted over 980,000 subscribers. The majority of subscribers were able to download at speeds of between 1.5Mbps and 24Mbps, which accounted for four out of five broadband users.
The number of subscribers with an upload speed of at least 512kbps more than doubled to 430,000.
Web filtering service supplied by Internet service providers
The Internet Service Provider Survey measures only the uptake of web filtering services which are supplied by the ISPs. There are many other alternatives available to subscribers, including purchasing and downloading software, which are outside the scope of this survey.
Twenty-one percent of ISPs offered web content filtering as a free service, up from 15 percent. ISPs offering no web filter service, whether free or charged, decreased from 75 to 63 percent. The proportions of ISPs offering a charged service (16 percent), and both a free and charged service (5 percent) were largely unchanged.
Other business activities of Internet service providers
Previously, the percentage of ISPs providing wholesale of bandwidth to other ISPs decreased. However, in the 15 months to June 2009, ISPs providing wholesale of bandwidth climbed from 20 to 32 percent.
ISPs selling packages to other ISPs for resale increased to 37 percent. Twenty-one percent of ISPs were active in both providing wholesale of bandwidth to other ISPs, and the sale of packages to other ISPs for resale. Fifty-three percent of ISPs did neither, down from 70 percent.
Size of Internet service providers
The majority of ISPs (58 percent) had up to 1,000 subscribers. A marginal proportion of ISPs (5 percent) had more than 100,000 subscribers.
Internet Protocol version 6
This is the first time respondents were asked about plans to install Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), and possible barriers for installation. Every computer system and device connected to the Internet is assigned an IP address. The current process of distributing IP addresses is called IPv4. Over the next few years IPv4 will be gradually replaced by IPv6, a newer version of Internet Protocol that greatly expands the available address space.
One-quarter of all ISPs had already installed IPv6, or would do so before the end of 2009. However, more than one-third of ISPs reported they had no plans to install IPv6.
The most commonly reported barrier for businesses to install IPv6 was a lack of resources, indicated by 42 percent of ISPs. This was followed by lack of user demand and other business priorities, each reported by 37 percent of ISPs.
Next release...
Internet Service Provider Survey: June 2010 will be released in October 2010.
For technical information contact:
Deborah Harkin
Wellington 04 931 4600
Email: info@stats.govt.nz.