The Mapping the Digital Gap report found Indigenous people are twice as likely to face barriers to accessing, affording and using the internet, with those hurdles higher in remote Australia.
The RMIT and Swinburne University research draws on data from 12 Indigenous communities, finding Elders, low-income households and those with limited English or living with a disability in particular, faced significant challenges to getting online.
Having access to the internet for news, information and basic services is essential, RMIT professor and the study's First Nations co-investigator Lyndon Ormond-Parker said.
"A lot of banks have now shut in regional towns, so everyone is forced online," the Alyawarra man told AAP.
"It's important that people are able to access (these services), they're able to have a device that works, that's affordable, has access to internet and they have the skills to manage their online life."
While the report found digital participation is on the rise in remote communities, there remain significant barriers to accessing and using online services, Professor Ormond-Parker said, including lack of identity documentation and access to credit cards and direct debit facilities.
In 2022, 44 per cent of people in remote First Nations communities visited by the research team used the internet daily, with 20 per cent not online at all.
By 2024, daily usage climbed to 62 per cent, with non-users falling to 14 per cent.
But there remains a gap when compared to non-Indigenous Australians, of whom 95 per cent are daily users of the internet, and only two per cent non-users.
Access to internet services is improving for Indigenous communities, but a 42 per cent gap between First Nations and non-Aboriginal people remains.
This is four times greater than the gap in affordability and double the gap for digital ability.
Prof Ormond-Parker said it is important the federal government keep funding, and telco services keep providing initiatives like free wi-fi services in remote communities to address this gap.
"Once you see free community wi-fi, once you provide that service the increase in people accessing the internet skyrockets," he said.
Reliance on prepaid mobile services in remote communities also impacted the affordability and reliability of internet services in remote regions.
"The majority of people that we surveyed are on Telstra prepaid mobile," Prof Ormond-Parker said.
"With prepaid mobile, people are paying the highest for data of anywhere in the country."
As part of the project, a First Nations Digital Inclusion Dashboard was launched to collate the data and track progress.
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