New Zealanders are developing an insatiable hunger for data, with the average Kiwi's data usage doubling in the past year.

Chorus has found the average user on its network is now using 100 gigabytes per month, double the average 15 months ago; and Palmerston North was one of most data-hungry cities in the country – data usage increased 111 per cent to 113GB a month.

Chorus head of insights and strategy Rosalie Nelson said she found Palmerston North very interesting in terms of internet usage.

"It's above the national average for fibre uptake, as well, and it's been consistently up there [since the beginning of the ultra-fast broadband rollout]."

By March, 24 per cent of Palmerston North households had a UFB connection, 2 percentage points above the national average, she said.

Only Blenheim and Timaru have been faster fibre adopters, with 28 and 25 per cent uptake respectively.

"A lot of the regional centres have been taking it up faster than the bigger centres. Wellington, for example, is actually slower than the national average."

Nelson said Chorus forecast the national average data usage would reach 170GB per month by June 2017, at a conservative estimate, and she didn't see demand slowing down.

"We're still quite early in the TV on demand era. Only 24 per cent or less of us are using services like Netflix or Lightbox."

​And it wasn't mainly high-income areas that were using the most data, she said.

"It's areas with a lot of young families in particular. They are using the internet as a lower cost way of viewing TV [than Sky]."

And, Nelson said, there was increasing data usage from smart appliances, fitbits, home security cameras and other home and lifestyle management tools.

"We're seeing a fundamental shift in how people are viewing the internet; how we socialise, entertain ourselves, and work."

Vision Manawatu business manager Mark Hargreaves said many small Manawatu businesses needed to be well connected to offer their services more widely and remain competitive with the rest of the world.

"They are working in a 24/7 environment providing services to northern hemisphere business, taking advantage of being awake when they're asleep."

There were roughly 20 niche businesses Vision Manawatu had worked with that depended on tapping the internet to find enough people who wanted their products and services.

Collectively, they employed 200 to 300 people, and 80 to 90 per cent of their revenue came from overseas customers, Hargreaves said.

"Quality internet is the key for a lot of the growth of Manawatu buisnesses."

He said there was a significant and increasing portion of the region's business that depended on good, fast broadband connections.

Proliant general manager Paul Lewis said UFB was vital to their operation, allowing them to keep in close contact with their American parent company while they set up their new processing plant in Feilding earlier this year.

"Without it we would've been stuck."

There were a lot of video conferences and live sharing of screens with their American counterparts, so it was particularly important to have a quick and stable connection.

"There's nothing like a face-to-face meeting. When you sit down with someone you seem to cover more work. I'm not sure why but we seem to be able to duplicate that with a screen."