By Shivaun Hales

Australian consumers are continuing to increase the amount of time spent online, with the total number of Australian internet subscribers increasing by 17% in 2010 and the average amount of data downloaded increasing by 29%, statistics that reinforce the online shopping boom.

The research released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) reveals e-commerce is attracting more people online, with 7.4 million people accessing retail and auction websites from home during December 2010.

The most visited e-commerce sites in December last year were eBay (4.2 million people), Amazon (1.7 million) and the shopping.com.au network (1.3 million). Facebook continued to be the most popular social networking site.

“These increases reflect again the ongoing digital boom in online social and economic activity,” said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.

“More and more Australians are going online to do their shopping, banking and social networking,” he added.

According to the report more than 15 million people aged 14-years and over used the internet during the December quarter of 2010, up from 14.2 million during the same quarter in 2009.

In addition, 71% of internet users went online at least once a day in December 2010, compared to 67% in December 2009, an increase of 1.2 million users
Chapman said people are downloading more data with an increased take-up of higher speed internet services, contributing to the rise of online activities and the use of digital video services.

The ACMA research also indicates internet access via mobile phone handsets is on the rise, with 3.1 million people using their mobile phones to access the internet during December 2010, an increase from 1.9 million a year earlier.

Chapman believes despite the rise in mobile internet, consumers have not abandoned traditional internet access, but are instead using phones as a complimentary service rather than a substitute. 98% of mobile phone internet users continuing to use the internet via a computer.

“It is also notable that digital convergence is transforming how consumers can access the internet, moving beyond the mobile phone and computer to encompass a wider range of consumer electronic devices - such as the TV set,” he added.