The onward march of broadband and the internet as fundamental components to today’s society continues apace as new figures reveal.
Broadband’s place as one of the fastest growing technologies in the UK is underlined again by data just released by Ofcom. According to the communications regulator, more than half of UK adults now have a broadband connection at home. Over the past four years, this is a seven-fold increase, and a jump of 39 per cent in the figure just 12 months ago.
Findings in Ofcom’s Digital Progress Report show that the sharp fall in broadband access charges and the emergence of triple play packages (broadband, phone and TV) have been crucial in influencing the market and the customer’s choice of service provider. This has resulted in more than 13 million UK homes and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) being broadband connected, compared with 9.8 million at the end of 2005 and just 330,000 in 2001.
Analysts Point Topic, meanwhile, put the worldwide total of broadband lines at 281.5 million. An estimated 17.7 million connections were added in the past three months, bringing the year on year growth rate to 31.1 per cent.
Point Topic also ranks the top ten countries by number of broadband lines as:
1. USA
2. China
3. Japan
4. Germany
5. South Korea
6. France
7. UK
8. Italy
9. Canada
10. Spain
