Ofcom has just released its fourth Communications Market Report 2009 (August), which is a mammoth 334 page .PDF (Adobe Reader) document charting every conceivable variable of the UK's Television, Radio and Telecoms (Voice, Broadband etc.) markets. It reveals that nearly 65% of UK households had a fixed-line broadband connection in Q1 2009, up from 58% a year previously.

Overall satisfaction levels were also high, with 90% or more of consumers satisfied with their fixed-voice, fixed-broadband and mobile services. However, satisfaction with the speed of fixed-line broadband connections has fallen from 90% in Q1 2006 to 81% in Q1 2009. Telecoms services accounted for 3.2% of total household expenditure in 2008, down from 3.4% in 2007.


It's worth pointing out that cheaper local loop unbundling (LLU) based broadband services are now available to 84% of consumers overall, up by 4% year on year. Some 49% could get cable based services, 87% were within reach of 3G (Mobile Broadband), 98% could get older 2G mobile data and voice services, while DSL broadband had a total reach of 99.6%. As for future broadband services ( FTTH , FTTC , Cable Modem DOCSIS3 etc.) and deployments..


In 2008/09 consumers in the UK showed a renewed interest in communications service bundling. Nationwide, 46% took more than one service from a single provider in Q1 2009, up by 6% year on year. This followed two years when the take-up of bundles had plateaued at 40% of homes. UK consumers also spent an average of 25 minutes per day using the Internet in May 2009, up from 9 minutes in May 2004.

Going Mobile.. with Broadband

Elsewhere Mobile Broadband services have also continued to grow with around 3 Million people in the UK now accessing related services over a cellular network via USB Modems (Dongles); this does not include access from 3G equipped phones, such as the iPhone. Take-up of pre-pay (PAYG) Mobile Broadband services contributed to over 250,000 new connections in May 2009 alone.

Three-quarters of the 12% of UK households that had a Mobile Broadband connection in Q1 2009 also had a fixed-line broadband connection. This indicates that Mobile Broadband is more of a complement to, rather than a substitute for, fixed-line services. Mobile Broadband take up was lowest in the Scottish Borders (3%).

More than 8 Million people in the UK (16% of adults) accessed the Internet on their mobile phone in Q1 2009, up by 42% on a year previously. Similarly 11% of households had a mobile (voice and or Internet) connection but no fixed-line connection in Q1 2009; unchanged from last year.

The other stuff

A quarter of the population admitted to the unauthorised file sharing (P2P) of music online, according to data from Entertainment Media Research, and 5% admitted to doing so regularly. However, most unauthorised sharing is done by copying physical discs – 37% have let someone else copy a CD. Younger people seem less concerned about obtaining content for free – 66% believe it is morally acceptable to do so.

Just over half of consumers (51%) claim that watching television is the media activity that they would miss most. Typically there's plenty more detail in the full report but at the same time we simply don't have enough hours in the day to read every page of it. Ofcom could perhaps do with splitting it up into four smaller reports over several weeks.