Band 9: You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The bar chart below shows the total number of minutes (in billions) of telephone calls in Australia, divided into three categories, from 2001- 2008. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant. You should write at least 150 words.

The bar graph illustrates the volume of telephone calls, delineated by category, made in Australia from 2001 to 2008, measured in billions of minutes.

Overall, local calls consistently dominated in terms of volume throughout the period, while national and international calls experienced steady growth. In contrast, mobile calls, although starting from a low base, exhibited significant upward trends from 2002 onwards.

In 2001, local calls accounted for 72 billion minutes, significantly surpassing the other categories. This figure increased gradually to 90 billion minutes by 2005, before declining to 72 billion minutes in 2008. The national and international calls began at 38 billion minutes in 2001, experiencing a steady increment each year to reach 50 billion minutes in 2005, before showing a slight decrease to 46 billion minutes by 2008.

Conversely, mobile calls, which initiated at a mere 2 billion minutes in 2001, demonstrated a remarkable growth trajectory, culminating in 51 billion minutes by 2008. Specifically, mobile call usage surged from 5 billion in 2002 to 12 billion in 2005, and further escalated to 39 billion minutes in 2007, indicating an increasing popularity of mobile communications throughout the examined period.