Broadband connections to the Net continue to increase

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 20 Jan 2003 at 16:56

The Office of National Statistics has published its latest monthly report on UK Internet connectivity, covering the month of November 2002.

The latest survey of Internet Service Providers reveals that 9.3 per cent of subscriptions to the Internet involve fast dedicated connections (broadband or fixed lines). And the number of dial-up connections to the Net has continued to fall as the permanent connections increase.

From the last survey, October 2002, there has been a slight increase of people accessing the Internet measuring 0.4 per cent. Year on year, however, there has been a 9 per cent increase of connections to the Net.

In terms of the different types of access to the Internet, the divergent paths are clear. Dial-up is in a steady slow decline as the take-up of broadband continues its ballistic ascent.

Year on year growth for broadband is now reported as 272 per cent with a monthly increase alone of 9.7 per cent since October 2002. Whereas 9.3 per cent of subscriptions to the Internet now involve a permanent connection, this figure stood at 8.5 per cent in October.

Dial up access to the Internet, by contrast, certainly seems to have peaked. While it has increased by 1.6 per cent since November 2001 (see chart of Dial-up Internet connections), there has been a decrease of 0.4 per cent since the previous month in October. Since February 2002, indeed, there has been a steady decline. These figures include ISDN access.

How do the figures stand for the different payment regimes? Whereas 26 per cent of connections involve free access, 37 per cent have chosen to pay for unmetered access, with 18 per cent of subscriptions being billed for both the ISP's service and telephone calls.