The numbers arrived this morning not with fanfare but with the quiet insistence of rising tides, and what they reveal should make every connected Australian pause mid-scroll and consider: We are drowning in data. Willingly. Hungrily. Relentlessly.

The latest figures from NBN Co—those cartographers of our digital consumption—paint a portrait of a nation transformed. As of June 2025, the average Australian household pulls down 508 gigabytes of data per month through the National Broadband Network.

Let that settle for a moment, dear reader. That’s not a typo corrected by autocorrect. That’s not a projection for some distant future. That’s now. That’s us. That’s the invisible river flowing through our walls while we sleep.

According to Jane McNamara, Consumer Spokesperson at NBN while there’s no suggestion that everyone excited by new and future technologies will suddenly adopt them all as soon as possible.

“The level of interest expressed suggests these new data-intensive applications will drive additional download growth as they become more broadly available.” said McNamara,

She says Australia’s NBN infrastructure is currently capable of transmitting several times more data than is currently required across the nation, but that many households on the NBN network are not set up to take advantage of available high speeds.

THE SURGE THAT WOULDN’T STOP

Compared to June 2024’s figure of 460 gigabytes, this represents a 10.4% increase in just twelve months—a rate of growth that shows no signs of slowing, no signs of satisfaction, no indication that we’ve reached any sort of digital ceiling.

To understand where we are, we must first understand where we’ve been—and the journey is staggering:

• 2013: 40 GB per month (the age of innocence)
• 2019: 258 GB per month (awakening begins)
• 2023: 443 GB per month (the new normal arrives)
• 2024: 460 GB per month (growth continues)
• 2025: 508 GB per month (where we stand today, breathless)

That’s a 1,170% increase in just over a decade. Not growth—transformation. Not evolution—revolution, conducted in silence, in living rooms and bedrooms and home offices across Australia

THE GREAT DEVICE MULTIPLICATION

But here’s where the story deepens, where statistics become prophecy: The average Australian household now maintains more than 25 internet-connected devices. Not computers. Not just phones. Everything.

Smart televisions that remember your viewing habits. Thermostats that learn your temperature preferences. Security cameras watching driveways.

Baby monitors transmitting lullabies. Fitness trackers counting steps. Smart speakers answering questions at 3 AM. Gaming consoles downloading 100-gigabyte updates. Tablets for the children. Laptops for work. Phones—always phones—streaming, scrolling, syncing, searching.

Twenty-five devices, each one a small mouth drinking from the data stream.

And it won’t stop there. Industry projections suggest that by 2030—just five years away—that number will surge to 44 devices per household.

THE DIVIDE REMAINS, STARK AND STUBBORN

Yet Australia’s digital landscape is not uniform. Far from it. Data from the final quarter of 2022 reveals a nation split by connection type, by geography, by the infrastructure beneath our feet:

• Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) subscribers: 420 GB monthly average
• Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC) users: 383 GB monthly average
• Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) consumers: 302 GB monthly average
• Satellite users: 156 GB monthly average

Read that last figure again. 156 gigabytes.

That’s 37% of what fibre users consume. That’s the reality for regional and remote Australians—those farming communities, those coastal outposts, those places where the NBN satellite is not a choice but a necessity.

They live in the same digital age, subject to the same cultural pressures, the same expectations of connectivity. But they do so with one hand tied behind their backs.

THE HUMAN COST, MEASURED IN HOURS

Beyond the raw data consumption, there’s the time—the sheer, unrelenting investment of hours that Australians aged 16 to 64 dedicate to the digital realm.

• Six hours and 14 minutes online. Daily.

Not weekly. Not “on average if you include heavy users.” Daily. Every day. More than a quarter of our waking hours spent gazing into screens, clicking, swiping, streaming, searching.

Of that, 1 hour and 51 minutes goes to social media alone—that sprawling digital ecosystem where we maintain relationships, conduct arguments, share joys and grievances, watch videos of strangers doing strange things, and slowly, steadily contribute to those 508 gigabytes.

• 97.1% CONNECTED: THE NEAR-UNIVERSAL NATION

As of January 2025, 26.1 million Australians have internet access. With a total population of roughly 26.9 million, that’s a penetration rate of 97.1%—one of the highest in the world.

In the past twelve months alone, 256,000 new users joined the digital fold, a 1.0% increase that might seem modest until you consider we’re already at near-saturation.

These aren’t early adopters. These are the final holdouts, the last to connect, bringing us ever closer to a truly universal digital Australia.

2032: THE TERABYTE THRESHOLD

And how much deeper can we go? According to NBN Co’s own projections, quite a bit further indeed.

By 2032—just seven years from now—the average Australian household is forecast to consume 1,067 gigabytes monthly. That’s more than a terabyte. That’s double what we’re consuming today. That’s a volume of data that would have seemed incomprehensible to the 40-gigabyte household of 2013.

What drives this projection? Multiple converging trends:

• Streaming in Ultra-High Definition: 4K is becoming standard. 8K is emerging. Virtual reality content demands enormous bandwidth. A single 4K movie can consume 25-50 GB; imagine households streaming multiple hours daily across multiple devices.
  
  
• Cloud Gaming: Services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce NOW allow users to play graphics-intensive games without powerful local hardware—but they stream every frame from remote servers, consuming substantial bandwidth per hour.
  
  
• Remote Work Persistence: The pandemic-era shift to work-from-home has proven sticky. Video conferencing, large file transfers, remote desktop connections—all contributing steady baseline consumption.
  
  
• Smart Home Proliferation: Those 44 devices aren’t passive. Security cameras upload constant video streams. Smart home hubs synchronise continuously. Connected cars download map updates and software patches.
  
  
• Artificial Intelligence: AI assistants, image generators, and increasingly sophisticated automation tools that require cloud connectivity are becoming household staples.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE QUESTION LOOMS

Which raises an uncomfortable question: Can Australia’s digital infrastructure handle this future?

The NBN was designed with capacity in mind, but even its architects couldn’t have fully anticipated the explosive growth in consumption. Upgrades are ongoing, with fiber-to-the-premises rollouts expanding and higher-speed tiers becoming available. But gaps remain.

The satellite users, the DSL holdouts, the regional communities—they’re already experiencing the strain. As the average climbs to 508, they’re stuck at 156, watching the gap widen.

WHAT IT ALL MEANS: A NATION TRANSFORMED

Stand back. Zoom out. Look at what these numbers collectively describe.

Australia has become one of the world’s most digitally intensive nations—not just in terms of connectivity, but in terms of consumption. We don’t just access the internet; we live inside it. Our homes are no longer brick and timber—they’re brick and timber and bandwidth.

Every video call with distant family. Every streaming series binged on Friday nights. Every work document uploaded to the cloud.

Every TikTok video that makes you laugh at 11 PM. Every software update downloaded silently at 3 AM. Every smart doorbell alert. Every fitness tracker sync. Every online grocery order. Every homework assignment researched. Every news article read. Every song streamed. Every game played.

Australians Pay Some of the highest prices in the world for broadband internet

Australians are forking out an average of $84 per month for home internet, with many consumers paying premium prices despite using minimal data, according to a new survey by consumer advocacy group Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (Accan).

The survey, conducted by Essential and polling 1,065 people, revealed that the majority of Australians are paying between $61 and $100 monthly for their internet connection.

Breaking down the figures, 31% of respondents pay between $81 and $100, while 30% pay between $61 and $80. One in five Australians pays over $100 per month, with only 13% securing plans under $60.

Particularly concerning is the finding that 74% of light internet users—those consuming less than 50GB per month—are still paying over $60 monthly, with an average bill of $71. This suggests many consumers may be locked into plans that far exceed their actual usage needs.

The data encompasses not only NBN connections but also competing services such as TPG’s offerings and 5G home internet, which has entered the market at rates typically lower than NBN prices.

Currently, approximately 8.6 million of the 12.5 million premises capable of connecting to the NBN are actively using the service across Australia, highlighting the network’s widespread but costly reach for Australian households.

508 Gigabytes Of Data – Australian Broadband Internet

That’s not a statistic. That’s a portrait of how we live now. That’s the digital exhaust of 26 million lives, quantified, measured, compressed into a single number that somehow captures everything and nothing at once.

People don’t think in gigabytes. They think in experiences. They don’t say “I consumed 15 gigabytes today.” They say “I watched Netflix, checked Instagram, joined three Zoom calls, and helped my kid with their homework.” The gigabytes are the invisible substrate of modern existence.

Australia’s Digital Pulse Remains Strong – (Internet Device Use)

The smartphone continues to reign supreme: 95% of Australians use one to access the internet, and 92% do so multiple times a day.

Laptops (71%) and smart TVs (61%) also remain household staples. Even among Australians aged 75 and over, mobile internet use has surged—rising to 84% in 2024, a remarkable leap from just 18% in 2017.

By June 2024, 98% of Australians had internet access at home, including through mobile networks. Fixed or wireless home connections remained steady at 93%, with the majority (81%) linked via the National Broadband Network.

Meanwhile, the nation’s appetite for smart technology continues to expand. Ownership of internet-connected devices such as wearables (37%), smart home appliances (26%), and voice-controlled speakers (23%) all rose over the past year.

LOOKING AHEAD: THE TERABYTE DECADE

As we hurtle toward 2032’s projected 1,067 GB, several certainties emerge. The devices will multiply. The appetite will grow. The divide between connected and under-connected will widen unless addressed.

The infrastructure will strain and adapt. The costs—both financial and environmental—will mount. The benefits—communication, education, entertainment, efficiency—will expand.