The number of people accessing the internet on their mobile phones increased by two-thirds over a 12 months period, according to fresh research from the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
ACMA's research also revealed there has been big increases in the volume of data downloaded, time spent and activities undertaken online by Australians between June 2009 and June this year.
According to the data, 2.4 million people used the internet via their handheld mobile during June 2010, up from 1.6 million 12 months earlier.
At the same time, 77 per cent of the population aged over 14 were connected to the internet at home and 66 per cent had a broadband connection.
"Australians are using the internet more intensively, going online more often for a much wider range of reasons," said ACMA chairman Chris Chapman.
Mr Chapman said that the frequency of internet use had steadily increased over the past five years to the point where 28 per cent of people were classified as heavy users, which means they were online more than 15 hours a week.
Only 14 per cent were deemed to be heavy users during June 2005.
"To the majority of Australians the internet is not just an entertainment tool but increasingly an essential part of their everyday lives, providing access to critical information and services," said Mr Chapman.
"Australians now use the internet for a wide range of activities with communications, research, information, banking and finance and general browsing being most popular," he said.
Increased internet speeds also meant the volume of information accessed had grown to 155,503 terabytes of data downloaded during the June quarter of 2010.
This compared to 99,249 terabytes during the previous corresponding period.
8.7 million Australians accessed mainstream social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube from home, spending more than 41.5 million hours on these sites.
Six million people access mainstream online news sites from home during June 2010.
