Australians are spending 20% less time with their phones connected to WiFi compared to three years ago, according to a new report published by Opensignal.
The insights company found a diverging trend across 12 Asia-Pacific markets, with mobile users in developed markets like Australia and Singapore spending more time using mobile data, with the opposite happening in emerging markets such as India and Indonesia.
Following 5G network rollouts, mobile data is becoming a suitable replacement for many regular tasks and reducing the need for consumers to rely on public WiFi, which can have:
- Reliability issues
- Security risks
- Registration requirements
- Limited performance
Within this trend, the analysis revealed mobile users still have a bias towards using to WiFi for data-intensive activities. This user behaviour, Opensignal says is also "reinforced by device settings, as large app or system updates are usually recommended — or sometimes restricted — to WiFi connections".
In emerging markets there has been a consistent trend to heavier reliance on mobile for internet access. 30% of internet users in India access it exclusively through mobile and never use WiFi, double that of any other country in the region.
However, in the last three years, emerging markets have seen large increases in time spent on WiFi, spurred by 5G home internet access as well as public policies. Programs like PM-WANI, which provide free WiFi at thousands of locations in India or iTaiwan and Pipol Konek in Taiwan and The Phillippines, respectively.
Asia Pacific has seen the fastest growth in data traffic of any region across both fixed internet connections and mobile users.
Opensignal has identified several factors that may continue to spur that growth, including younger generations' use of video platforms like YouTube and TikTok and the emergence of AR/XR and GenAI apps. It also says that data and devices are overall becoming cheaper.
In Australia, at least if the latter is true, it's not being reflected in mobile plan prices. A trend identified by WhistleOut in recent years points to mobile providers throwing in extra data to appease customers during successive plan price rises.
In practice, this means that Aussies are paying for more data than they need. The ACCC found that while average data usage is growing, Australians still only use around 14.5GB of data per month. But the average mobile data allowance of mobile plans advertised in the 24/25 Financial Year was 69GB.
In other developed markets, such as Singapore, where users are also moving away from WiFi, the reduction in data prices has been reflected in lower mobile plan prices.
WhistleOut Singapore Managing Editor Georgia Dixon said, "Plans have been getting cheaper over the last few years, but now they've hit a floor. Instead, telcos are piling on data and roaming inclusions to attract new customers."
If you're paying for more data than you use, then switching mobile plans is a quick and easy process. Here's a look at Australian mobile plans with at least 15GB of data:
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#1
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Pivotel
25GB Mobile Swift Plan
$11.45/mth
Min. cost $11.45
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#2
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SpinTel
Editor's Pick
$23 Mobile Plan
$12.00/mth
Min. cost $12
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#3
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OnePass mobile
28 Day Plan - 22GB
$12.50
Per 28 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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#4
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Moose Mobile
Moose 23 SIM Only
$14.00/mth
Min. cost $14
Link not supplied
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#5
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Swoop
30GB SIM Only 5G
$14.00/mth
Min. cost $14
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#6
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Lyca Mobile
Editor's Pick
Unlimited Plan S
$15.00
Per 28 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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#7
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iiNet
30GB Small Plan
$15.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
Link not supplied
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#8
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TPG
Editor's Pick
30GB Small Plan
$15.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
Link not supplied
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#9
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Kogan Mobile
Small Monthly Plan
$23.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
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#10
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Yomojo
Starter 29GB Plan
$24.90
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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Dylan Crismale
Digital Content Editor
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