Brits are spending more time than ever online, according to a new report by the communications regulator Ofcom.
The watchdog’s fifth annual communications marketing report showed that time spent on the internet increased fourfold from 6 minutes to 24 minutes a day between 2002 and 2007, while time spent texting and talking on mobile phones crept up from 5 minutes a day in 2002 to 10 minutes a day in 2007.
Total consumption of media services in the UK is at a record high, with Britons spending on average 7 hours and 9 minutes a day surfing the net, using mobile and landline telephones, watching TV and listening to the radio.
Broadband penetration also increased last year as many customers switched from dial-up, with 58% of British households signed up to broadband by the year’s end, up from 52%. Likewise, speeds have improved. According to Ofcom, the average blended headline speed across the UK was 5.9Mbps at the end of the first quarter of 2008, up from 3.6Mbps in December 2006.
This year’s biggest success though is mobile broadband. Brits are becoming obsessed with it, with sales of dongles almost doubling from 69,000 to 133,000 per month between February and June 2008. 511,000 new mobile broadband connections were established during this period in Britain.
In 2007 there were 4.7 million more 3G connections in the UK, bringing the total to 1.5 million subscribers.
Landline phones on the other hand are languishing. 7 out of 10 people who have both a mobile phone connection and landline still phone from their mobiles even when at home. Traditional landline broadband is still the connection of choice for over 65’s. Ofcom reported a 99% take-up from this age-group in the first quarter of 2008.
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