WebProNews

Australia's online population may be the smallest in the Asia-Pacific region, but in terms of Internet penetration, Australia has a solid presence.

In their new Australia Online report, eMarketer estimates that 66 percent of Australians will use the Internet in 2007, which is on par with more populated countries in the region such as Japan (69 %) and South Korea (72%).

eMarketer believes Australian Internet penetration will reach 72 percent in 2011.

They estimate the number of Internet users in Australia was 13.1 million in January. That figure is comparable with Nielsen//NetRatings number of 11.5 million and the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimate of 10.6 million users.

The country had been behind in broadband adoption because of the slow development of infrastructure by the major carrier Telstra.

In 2006, that changed with the nationwide availability of ADSL service, along with more competition and falling prices, which led to a 14.6 percent increase in broadband uptake.

Australian broadband penetration is high compared to regional neighbors India (1.2%) and China (12.6%), but is less than South Korea (78.8%) and Japan (52.3%).