Telecoms report shows UK leading way

Ofcom today published its second annual International Communications Market report, which made for positive reading from a UK point of view.

Compared to 11 other countries, including France and the US, the UK came out top in terms of digital television, broadband and social networking adoption.

The publication analysed trends in the £873bn global television, radio and telecommunications sectors in 2006.

It found the UK has the highest take-up of digital television of the twelve countries surveyed. At the end of 2006, 76 per cent of UK households had gone digital, which Ofcom said was driven mainly by growth in Freeview digital terrestrial television. The US and Japan followed with 61 and 60 per cent respectively.

Broadband take-up in the UK is on the rise, putting the UK slightly ahead of the US for the first time, with over half of all households connected at the end of 2006.

And UK adults spend more time on social networking sites than their European neighbours, with four in 10 UK adults saying that they regularly visit the sites. The report found UK adults who visit the sites spend an average of 5.3 hours each month on them and return to them an average 23 times in the month.

The report also compared the prices of communications services for typical household in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the US. Again, the UK came out cheaper, paying £25 a month on a triple-play (landline, basic pay-TV and the internet) deal. This compares with £27.22 in France, £39.77 in Germany and a whopping £69.54 in the US.

The Ofcom report also found that mobile is driving most of the global communications sector growth and now accounts for 53 per cent of total telecoms revenues, as well as outnumbering landlines.

By the end of last year there were, for the first time in the UK, more households with a mobile connection than a landline. And in terms of active mobile connections Italy was first with 139 subscriptions per 100 people, followed by the UK with 115.

And the number of mobile-only households has also risen. In Italy, led the way again with 38 per cent of mobile-only households, compared to around 13 per cent in the UK and 10 per cent in Germany.

Although 3G mobile services are becoming more widespread, the UK was lagging along with its European cousins. Over 50 per cent of mobiles in Japan were 3G compared to over 10 per cent in the UK, Italy and Sweden.

Ed Richards, Ofcom chief executive stated: "It's important to understand international comparisons so Ofcom can develop better policies to serve the interests of consumers and citizens in the UK."

The eleven other countries included in the report were France, Germany, Italy, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Canada and the US.

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