Push to get more people online stalls

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 14 Dec 2011 at 12:15

The push to get more than eight million Britons who have never been online onto the internet appears to be stumbling, according to a report from Ofcom.

The Government-funded Race Online 2012 programme is intended to improve digital inclusion, and while the organisation might be making progress with introducing first timers to the web, they may not be sold on it.

According to Ofcom, the UK's “global online universe” - or the number of people using a computer to access the web - had actually declined over the last year.

The UK's net population stands at 38.7 million, down 1% on last year in a sign that the market has stagnated.

“Based on data collected by internet measurement company Nielsen, the total internet audience (using a computer) across the nine countries for which we have data increased by just 2.4% between July 2010 and July 2011,” the report said. “Audience levels have remained relatively flat with minor seasonal changes in the UK, the US, Japan and Australia.”

The disconnected

Ofcom suggested the connections fall could be down to consumers accessing the web by devices other than computers, but will make worrying reading for ISPs and campaigners trying to push universal access.

A report from the Office of National Statistics last month showed that 8.43 million adults had never used the web, making up 16.8 per cent of the adult population.

However, the report suggested Race Online 2012 was making progress. The ONS report said that during Q3 this year there were 299,000 fewer adults that had never used the internet – compared with a decrease of only 12,000 between Q1 and Q2. Race Online 2012 has yet to respond to the figures.