Posted: 24th Aug, 2006 By: MarkJ
The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported in its latest update that nearly three quarters of all connections to the Internet are now on broadband:
Households with access to the InternetIn June 2006, broadband connections formed 72.6 per cent of Internet connections, up from 54.4 per cent in June last year and 18 per cent in June 2003.
ONS is today also publishing data on Internet access, specifically about households and individuals. This shows that the number of households with Internet access in Great Britain grew by 0.6 million to 13.9 million, 57 per cent of all households, between 2005 and 2006.
The survey this year includes Northern Ireland for the first time. The total number of UK households with Internet access was 14.3 million.
Data from the separate ONS Omnibus Survey shows that 69 per cent of households that had Internet access had a broadband Internet connection. This represents 40 per cent of all UK households. The survey shows differences between the regions and nations of the UK in broadband take-up. The percentage of all households with broadband Internet access ranged from 49 per cent in London to 28 per cent in Northern Ireland.
There was a wide variation in the rate of change. Broadband usage in the East of England rose from 27 per cent to 44 per cent of all households between 2005 and 2006, a rise of 63 per cent, while broadband penetration in the West Midlands rose from 30 per cent to 34 per cent (13 per cent) over the same period.
By contrast, 43 per cent of UK households had no Internet access, ranging from 52 per cent in Scotland to 33 per cent in the South East.
The survey found that 60 per cent of adults accessed the internet in the three months before they were interviewed, with men more likely to do so than women (65 per cent and 55 per cent respectively). Forty per cent of women had never used the Internet, compared with 30 per cent of men.