Kiwis love streaming: Almost half of all broadband connections have unlimited data

Kiwis are loving unlimited internet connections, with Statistics NZ reporting almost half of all broadband connections across the country had unlimited data plans as of 30 June 2016.

The organisations says 2016 has seen 43% more unlimited data plans than in 2015, when only around one-third of connections were unlimited.

This is coupled with a large increase in the amount of data used by broadband connections compared with 2015, according to Statistics NZ.

In total, residential and business connections used over 143,000 terabytes in the month of June 2016, a 70% increase from 2015.

"Residential broadband connections in New Zealand used an average of 88 gigabytes each during the month of June 2016," says business performance senior manager Jason Attewell.

"That's equivalent to 85 hours of video or TV streaming. Kiwis are really making the most of their unlimited data plans, considering that half of the broadband connections in June 2016 had no data cap," he says,

This increase in data usage is likely to coincide with the increasing number of streaming services available, and the continuing popularity of these. Additionally, telecommunications services are 20% cheaper in June 2016 than in June 2011, according to Statistics NZ.

"It's never been cheaper to have unlimited data plans, and there are so many options for how to use the data – watching movies, streaming music, creating and sharing content, and communicating with friends and family," says Attewell.

"A few years ago only 5% of us had uncapped broadband connections, so it's exciting to think where we could be in another few years," he says.

The figures come from the annual Internet Service Provider Survey, which is sent to all internet service providers in New Zealand.