Australia's first permanent Internet connection was established on 23 June 1989, when a TCP/IP link connected the University of Melbourne with the University of Hawaii. The connection provided the international feed for AARNet, Australia's academic and research network, which was established that year by Australian universities and research institutions. Pegasus Networks' foundation chief executive, Ian Peter, said that the company began offering public dial-up Internet access in June 1989, initially locally and nationwide from 14 September 1989.
The Australian Government established NBN Co in 2009 to build and operate the National Broadband Network (NBN), a national wholesale-only, open-access broadband network. The original design relied primarily on fibre to the premises (FTTP), supplemented by fixed wireless and satellite services. Following the change of government in 2013, the rollout shifted to a Multi-Technology Mix using existing and new network infrastructure. Its fixed-line technologies comprise FTTP, fibre to the building (FTTB), hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), fibre to the curb (FTTC) and fibre to the node (FTTN); fixed wireless and Sky Muster satellite services are used mainly in regional and remote areas.
As of May 2026, 12.67 million Australian homes and businesses were able to connect to the NBN and 8.66 million were connected through a retail provider. Some 5.09 million premises served by FTTN or FTTC could upgrade, or had upgraded, to FTTP, while 89 per cent of premises in the fixed-line footprint could access the network's highest residential wholesale speed tiers through FTTP or HFC. NBN Co aims to provide FTTP upgrade paths to more than 95 per cent of the approximately 622,000 premises that remained on FTTN connections at the end of 2025, with upgrades continuing progressively to 2030.
History
Academic networks and the first permanent Internet connection
Australian computer networking predated the country's connection to the Internet. From the mid-1970s, computer-science departments at Australian universities developed the Australian Computer Science Network (ACSNet), which used dial-up, store-and-forward technologies to exchange files and electronic mail. It later carried Usenet traffic and used the domain. The .au country-code top-level domain was delegated to University of Melbourne network programmer Robert Elz in March 1986, before Australia had a permanent Internet connection.
The Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee decided in 1988 to develop a national academic network, and the Australian Academic and Research Network (AARNet) was established in 1989. On 23 June 1989, Robert Elz opened Australia's first permanent TCP/IP Internet connection at the University of Melbourne, using a dedicated satellite circuit to the University of Hawaii. AARNet subsequently extended the Internet feed to Australian universities and research institutions; most universities and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation were connected by May 1990.
Public access and commercialisation
Accounts of Australia's first public or commercial Internet provider differ because early services did not all provide a permanent, full-IP connection. The founder of Pegasus Networks reported offering public dial-up email and newsgroup access from 1989, while the principals of Perth-based DIALix reported offering similar commercial services before obtaining a full IP connection around 1992. The Australian Bureau of Statistics identified connect.com.au, which commenced operation in 1992, as Australia's first commercial Internet provider.
Commercial access expanded after AARNet introduced a formal value-added reseller program in May 1994. In July 1995, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee transferred AARNet's commercial customers, associated assets and management of interstate and international links to Telstra. The wider telecommunications market was opened to full competition when the Telecommunications Act 1997 and related legislation took effect on 1 July 1997.
Telstra began rolling out a hybrid fibre-coaxial network in 1994, followed by Optus in 1995. The networks covered parts of the major capital cities and were used for pay television, telephony and broadband services. Local interconnection also developed: the Western Australian Internet Association, now the Internet Association of Australia, established the Western Australian Internet Exchange (WA-IX) in 1997 so that participating networks could exchange traffic locally.
Consumer broadband
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a declaration dated 4 August 1999 establishing regulated access to the unconditioned local loop service, the copper pairs connecting premises to points of interconnection in the local telephone network. Telstra began its consumer ADSL rollout on 21 August 2000. The number of DSL subscriptions increased from approximately 6,000 in September 2000 to 27,000 in March 2001.
By September 2006, Australia had approximately 3.9 million broadband subscriptions and 2.7 million dial-up subscriptions. Wireless broadband expanded rapidly later in the decade: the ABS recorded 1.46 million wireless broadband subscriptions in December 2008, approximately three times the number recorded a year earlier.
National Broadband Network
In April 2009, after an expert panel concluded that none of the proposals submitted through an earlier tender process offered a satisfactory value-for-money outcome, the Australian Government announced that a new government-owned company would build and operate the National Broadband Network (NBN). The 2009 proposal was for a wholesale-only, open-access network, initially using fibre to the premises for 90 per cent of premises—later increased to 93 per cent—with fixed wireless and satellite services elsewhere.
Following the change of government in 2013, a revised Statement of Expectations issued in April 2014 directed NBN Co to move from a predominantly FTTP design to an area-by-area Multi-Technology Mix that used existing infrastructure, including fibre to the node, fibre to the building and HFC.
On 11 December 2020, the communications minister declared that the NBN should be treated as built and fully operational for the purposes of the National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011. Expansion and technology-upgrade programs continued after that declaration, including large-scale upgrades from copper-based FTTN and FTTC services to FTTP.
Internet statistics The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reports the number of telecommunications services in operation (SIOs), rather than unique subscribers, households or people. A person or household may have multiple fixed, mobile and data-only services; the categories below therefore cannot be added together to estimate the number of Australians using the internet.
At 30 June 2025, the principal reported service categories were:
Service category Services in operation Reporting basis NBN fixed-line and fixed wireless 8,726,000 Wholesale consumer services; excludes NBN satellite Mobile telephone services 30,392,000 Pre-paid and post-paid; retail and wholesale Mobile broadband 4,051,000 Data-only mobile services; retail and wholesale Home wireless broadband 654,000 4G or 5G home broadband; retail and wholesale Non-NBN satellite 389,000 Retail services Non-NBN fibre 256,000 Retail services DSL 89,000 Retail services Non-NBN HFC/cable 28,000 Retail services Other non-NBN fixed wireless 3,000 Retail services
Wholesale consumer NBN fixed-line and fixed-wireless services increased by 0.13% during 2024–25, indicating that the total number of active NBN services had largely stabilised. The ACCC estimated that Telstra supplied 34% of consumer NBN services in June 2025, followed by TPG Telecom with 18% and Optus with 12%, while Aussie Broadband, Vocus and Superloop together accounted for approximately 18%. The share of NBN fixed-line services on wholesale speed tiers of 250 Mbit/s or faster increased from 2.7% in June 2023 to 8.2% in June 2025, although the 50 Mbit/s tier remained the most widely used.
Outside the NBN, home wireless broadband grew by 18% in the year to June 2025, reaching 654,000 services. Home wireless broadband uses a mobile network and is distinct from Wi-Fi connected to a fixed-line service. In the satellite market, Starlink reported 375,000 Australian retail services in June 2025, compared with 250,000 publicly reported in July 2024. It accounted for 27% of the non-NBN retail broadband services captured by the ACCC. Over the same period, legacy DSL services declined to 89,000.
For the three months ending 30 June 2025, service providers reported the following download volumes. The ACCC describes these volumes as indicative and notes that figures may be revised when providers amend their returns.
Access category Data downloaded NBN broadband 11,575,155 TB Mobile telephone services (pre-paid) 331,193 TB Mobile telephone services (post-paid) 989,948 TB Non-NBN retail broadband 1,113,904 TB Home wireless broadband 744,826 TB Mobile broadband 134,771 TB
Of the 7.299 million retail NBN services covered by the Internet Activity reporting rule, 6.894 million, or approximately 94.5%, were on plans without a data limit in June 2025.
Social trends Internet use is nearly universal among Australian adults, although the devices and services used to access it have changed. In a weighted survey of 3,543 adults conducted in 2025, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) estimated that 99.7% had used a device to access the internet during the preceding six months.
ACMA's survey series shows increased reliance on mobile phones and internet-connected televisions between 2017 and 2025. The average number of devices used to access the internet increased from 3.0 to 4.1. Respondents could report more than one device.
During 2025, 93.6% of adults surveyed accessed news or information online, 86.9% bought goods or services online, 75.2% accessed government services through an application, 57.8% used video calling or conferencing, 42.0% used telehealth and 41.9% worked online from home.
Near-universal recent internet use does not necessarily mean that users have affordable connections, suitable devices or the skills needed to participate fully online. The 2025 Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII), based primarily on data collected in 2024, measures digital inclusion across access, affordability and digital ability. It gave Australia an overall score of 73.6 and classified 20.6% of Australians as digitally excluded or highly excluded, including 9.2% classified as highly excluded. It also found that 9.7% relied solely on a mobile connection, 1.8% had no connection and 19.4% compromised on connection speed or data allowance to make their internet service affordable.
The ADII also found a 5.9-point digital-inclusion gap between capital cities and the rest of Australia. Scores ranged from 79.5 in the Australian Capital Territory to 69.4 in Tasmania, and generally declined with increasing remoteness.
Pricing The ACCC monitors advertised retail prices for telecommunications services annually. Comparing June 2025 advertised prices with June 2024, monthly prices for NBN fixed-line broadband services increased across most plans in nominal terms, excluding discounts: low-range plans (25th percentile) rose 7 per cent, or $5, to $78 per month; the median plan rose 9 per cent, or $8, to $93 per month; and high-range plans (75th percentile) were unchanged at $105 per month. Changes to NBN Co's wholesale pricing brought higher speed tiers to lower price points while lower speed tiers rose, concentrating the majority of plans between $90 and $100 per month.