The UK broadband market is entering a new phase of competition, with prices set to fall, sweeteners on offer to capture new customers and broadband usage soaring.
Although the number of new connections is slowing down, prompting this new round of service provider charm offensives, there are no signs of the UK’s fascination with the web doing anything other than becoming more intense. Almost 13 million UK homes are on broadband, with the average Brit whiling away the equivalent of 34 days online each year, around 15 hour per week.
According to price comparison site, uSwitch.com a survey of over 10,500 broadband users revealed we are devoting five weeks a year to the internet, more time than we spend eating and drinking, on personal grooming or going out.
Scotland is no exception. Urban areas fare best with 54 per cent of homes having broadband, while rural areas managed a 45 per cent uptake overall. In Ofcom’s Communications Market Report for Scotland, it is stated that Scotland has the highest broadband take-up by small to medium sized businesses at 67 per cent. By comparison, England manages 64 per cent, Northern Ireland 52 per cent and Wales 47 per cent.
Scotland also makes most use of Voice over IP, with 19 per cent of users employing the technology to route free and low cost voice calls over the internet.
But while the internet and broadband becomes an ever bigger part of daily life, and providers launch competitive new access deals, there still remains a reluctance to swap broadband services. It is estimated that 60 per cent of all broadband customers are paying more than necessary for their broadband connection. In total this could amount to as much as £749 million per annum.
According to uSwitch.com, of the 13 million broadband subscribers in the UK, only 26 per cent have switched supplier in the last 12 months. Almost 50 per cent of all customers have never changed supplier, despite the number of options now available.
Related HIE Business link - Using broadband in business
