UK Net connectivity levels out, but broadband climbs

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 19 Aug 2002 at 15:51

Uptake of broadband continues to increase as pricing falls, according to the office of National Statistics.

Tracking data from ISPs on a monthly-basis, the official statistics show an increase in UK Internet connectivity of 17.3 per cent year on year (from June 2001). Only a slight rise - 0.1 per cent - was seen month-on-month from May 2002, however.

With the uptake of permanent connections, the number of dial-up connections to the Internet has fallen since April 2002. The figures gathered by the government body indicate that dial-up connections, which include ISDN, have fallen by 0.5 per cent from May to June 2002 (but show a year-on-year growth of 11.9 per cent). In contrast, the number of broadband connections grew 414 per cent over a year ago, with an increase of 10.2 per cent from May to June 2002. Putting that in context, permanent connections made up 5.9 per cent of total subscriptions in June 2002.

The type of access plans used for the Internet remained largely unchanged for June. Thirty per cent enjoy free access to the Net, 34 per cent unmetered access and 19 per cent are on a billing basis. See the access chart pictured.

The monthly Internet Connectivity survey was created in response to help monitor the UK's use of e-commerce.

We previously reported a 5.3 per cent figure for ADSL access in the UK, for May 2002. This relates to a month on month increase of 15.7 per cent.

We have also reported on Internet Access, which is a separate National Statistics report, being based on an Expenditure and Food Survey and not ISP data. The figures covered January to March 2002, when it was revealed that 42 per cent of UK households were online (an estimated 10.7m homes). Fifty-five per cent per cent of British adults - approximately 25.2m - had accessed the Internet at some point in their lives.