This paper showed the similarities between the supply and use of ICT in New Zealand and Australia. Figures for the total sales of ICT commodities expressed as a percentage of GDP were similar (9.9 percent in New Zealand and 9.3 percent in Australia); a high proportion of businesses used broadband to access the Internet (91 percent in New Zealand and 96 percent in Australia); and over half of all broadband users in both countries had speeds of 1.5Mbps or greater.
Areas of difference between the two countries included: some Internet activities of businesses and the percentage of Internet subscribers using narrowband (download speeds slower than 256Kbps); New Zealand businesses were more likely to have a website and were more likely to place and receive orders over the Internet; however, New Zealand had a higher percentage of Internet subscribers using narrowband (28 percent compared with 13 percent in Australia).