Internet access in Aboriginal communities
The internet is yet to reach Aboriginal communities. Very few own a computer and even less are connected.
Internet yet to reach Aboriginal communities
80% of all Australians access the internet regularly, but just 6% of residents in some remote Aboriginal communities even have a computer [1].
In some communities, as few as 2% of residents have an internet connection. 58% had used a computer in the past but a third of those had never been online.
Three-quarters of internet users in remote areas were under 30, unsurprisingly, since about 33% of the Aboriginal population is of that age, compared to around 20% of non-Aboriginal Australians [2].
With the National Broadband Network (NBN) these statistics hopefully improve. But remote communities are likely to be connected to the NBN via satellites due to their isolation [3]. While these provide download speeds of up to 12 Mbps (megabits per second), faster than many ADSL2+ connections provided today, upload speeds will stay at 1 Mbps, preventing real-time video streaming of content [1].
[1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-12/nbn-disparity-threatens-to-widen-the-gap/2791840 [2] Population distribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2006 ABS Cat. No. 4705.0 [3] http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/flying-doctors-fear-nbn-will-bypass-bush-20110902-1jq4r.html