iPhone data usage well under cap: Thodey

At the announcement of a 2.2 per cent slump in profits yesterday, Telstra CEO David Thodey said most of its iPhone customers used just a fraction of the data they were paying for.

"In terms of wireless data usage, interestingly, the average use on an iPhone is around 200 to 400 megabytes per month, nowhere near what people are actually acquiring on their cap," Thodey said at the announcement yesterday.

Despite this, the vast majority of the telco's network usage is now for data not voice, according to Thodey.

"Remember, when you look at the wireless network, 10 per cent of the traffic is or actually less than 10 per cent is now voice, 90 per cent is all IP packets of data," he said. "So that is where the growth is, and if you are profiling any network, it is definitely around the data."

While the telco has said the average iPhone customer doesn't reach their data cap, the Herald Sun reported today that Telstra chief financial officer John Stanhope said the telco giant would cut off the internet access for its smartphone customers who go over their data limits, because the company was losing millions of dollars to customers who refused to pay for the excess data usage.