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Households with broadband in Australia 2011-2012, by region
Additional Information
Australia is a wealthy country and a significant percentage of the country’s population has access to modern technology, particularly in the form of electronic devices, such as smartphones, tablets and PCs and with that internet access. With regards to smartphones, the penetration rate in 2012 stood at around 53 percent and is expected to continue rising well into the future. When including regular mobile phones as well, the penetration rate was as high as 86 percent in 2012. In contrast to the United States, the preferred smartphone operating system in Australia has been Android for some time now, which has a significant lead over Apple’s iOS. It has also been found the more than 80 percent of Australian smartphone owners have a data plan and can therefore also access the internet via their mobile phone.
In addition to the smartphone (at 60 percent as of December 2012), many Australians have also been found to be using their laptops (77 percent), desktop PCs (72 percent) and even games consoles and connected TVs (44 and 33 percent respectively) to access the internet. Other research has found a high rate of using a second electronic device that has the capacity to access the internet when also watching TV. Many Australians also enjoy using their laptops, desktop PCs, phones and tablets while sitting down to view their favourite TV programs each day.