Tata Comms Finds Brits Most Desire to Download at “Light Speed”

A new study of 1,770 Internet users in the United Kingdom, which was conducted by Tata Communications, has revealed that a desire for “light speed connectivity” came top of the list when respondents were asked for their thoughts on the most inspirational opportunity that the Internet will facilitate in the next 3-5 years.

The research, which forms part of Tata’s Connected World II global report, notes how downloading at “light speed” (35%) was considered the single most inspirational opportunity. By contrast 18% felt that real life video communications would be the most inspirational development, while 17% voted for Smart Cities and 15% felt that wearable technology or automated products would be top.

Only Germany reported more interest in “light speed” connections (45%) than the UK.

Most of our readers will of course associate “light speed connectivity” with pure fibre optic style Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH/P) services, which can deliver Gigabit broadband download speeds (1000Mbps). But it’s important to note that Tata’s question fails to elaborate on what it means by “light speed connectivity” and likewise not even fibre optic lines run at the true speed of light.

The report also reveals that Britons have an emotional connection to the Internet, with 62% suffering from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), anger or anxiety when unable to connect. Meanwhile 72% stated that the Internet belonged to everyone (as opposed to ‘each individual country’), which was second only to Germany where 80% gave the same response.

Finally, the global average amount of time spent online per day was found to be 5.1 hours, which compares with 4.8 hours in the UK. Overall 92% of people around the world spend at least an hour a day online.