Analysis by Australia’s competition watchdog found while mobile data allowances increased 65 per cent in the year to end-June 2019, the average price for mobile services fell 6.6 per cent.

The annual decrease was slightly below the average 7.5 per cent reduction in prices over the past five years, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) revealed in a regular market report.

Over the same period, fixed broadband prices fell 2.5 per cent each year.

In the year to end-June 2019, prepaid mobile prices dropped 7.3 per cent year-on-year and post-paid by 6.5 per cent.

The largest increases in data allowance were recorded in tariffs in the AUD60 ($41.19) to AUD70 range. Within this, average post-paid allocations increased from 23GB to 43GB, with prepaid nearly doubling from 29GB to 57GB.

While mobile prices continued to fall, the ACCC pointed to a reduction in the number of affordable entry-level plans available on the market, which it said are being withdrawn in favour of higher-priced plans with more inclusions.

ACCC chair Rod Sims, said: “While competition and investment are giving consumers better value in terms of higher quality services for their money, consumers who do not want bells and whistles are struggling to find cheap, entry-level, fixed broadband and voice products.”

Strong demand for streaming services fuelled a 47 per cent jump in data downloads, with fixed broadband accounting for 88 per cent of the total.

The proportion of Australians relying solely on mobile for broadband dropped from 23 per cent in 2014 to 16 per cent in 2019, ACCC noted, citing data from the Australian Communications and Media Authority.