Dunedin use of internet data zooms

Dunedin is leading the way for increasing internet data use with a 128% rise since the start of last year.

That has occurred as people across New Zealand move from broadcast television to on-demand services.

The increase was the largest in the country. Despite being lower overall than other areas, the city still made it into the top 10 areas.

While the exact reasons behind Dunedin's increase were unclear, the uptake of gig-speed since the city won the Chorus Gigatown competition, and residents' use of internet television to watch high definition video and binge-watch television appear to be pushing our data use.

Chorus yesterday released the figures, part of what it said was "the booming rate of data consumption in Kiwi homes''.

The amount of data used in New Zealand had increased by 100% in the past 15 months to an average of 100 gigabytes a month.

That placed the country among some of the most data-hungry countries in the world.

Dunedin's consumption stood at an average of 108GB a month.

Enterprise Dunedin yesterday confirmed the number of people signed up to gig-speed accounts had topped 5000.

Director John Christie said that would help increase data use.

As well, the city had some "pretty high-use business users'', who may be contributing to the increase.

That was something his organisation was encouraging after the Gigatown win.

Chorus insights and strategy head Rosalie Nelson said there were a variety of factors behind the increase.

"What we're seeing nationally is that where people are on higher speed connections, or where people have gone to fibre, they're using more data.

"They're often consuming a lot of high definition video.''

That was where the real change had taken place, Ms Nelson said.

Once people started using services like Lightbox, Netflix of TVNZ OnDemand, it was easy to use more than 100GB in a month.

"It's pretty easy for it to rack up, and it's just the way New Zealand's behaviour is shifting from the use of internet for information and computing to entertainment.''

Usage was expected to continue to grow strongly with the introduction of virtual reality and 360 degree viewing technologies.

Ms Nelson said Dunedin's use had come from a lower base, and had "very strong seasonal flows'' with students coming and going.

"With students in town, you'll be busting data caps all over the place within those communities.''

She said about 53% of New Zealanders were watching some sort of internet television.

"But this isn't just about watching more and more content online, it's also about the rapid digitisation of our everyday lives.''

Top 10 consumption areas