UK has 17.3m fixed broadband connections: Ofcom

The Communications Market Report 2009 released by UK telecom regulator, Ofcom provides a detailed analysis and information on the UK broadband internet, television, radio telecoms industry. This 332 paged document gives us the complete picture of the trends and developments in key areas of the UK communications sector using interesting data and charts.

Broadband – the fastest growing communication service

There was increased broadband adoption during the last year. 65% of the homes in the UK have broadband internet connection in Q1 2009, a rise from 58% of the previous year.

There are 17.3 million fixed broadband connections during 2008, up by 10.7 % on 2007. There were more than 1.7 million new broadband connections added during 2008..
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Mobile broadband is on steady growth with PAYG mobile broadband subscriptions making up over a quarter of a million new connections in May 2009 alone.

More than one in ten homes in the UK (12 %) have a mobile broadband connection. Most of them (three-quarters) also have a fixed-line broadband connection. This shows that many users still consider mobile broadband as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, a fixed-line service.

Number of customers who accessed internet on their handsets showed a remarkable growth of 42% in Q1 2009. The smartphones which account for 16% of all handset sales in Q1 2009 have driven many people to access mobile broadband internet. More than 8 million mobile customers used their mobile phones to surf the net. The other factor that contributed to the increased mobile internet use was the availability of new mobile applications.

Broadband Customer Satisfaction levels go up

More than 90% of the customers expressed over-all satisfaction with their fixed-voice, fixed-broadband and mobile services. 94 % of the customers were satisfied with their mobile telephony services. Phone (fixed voice) services had 92% satisfaction levels. Digital TV satisfaction levels (85%) showed a decline of 5%. Mobile broadband showed the lowest satisfaction rating (83%) among all communications services.

Just 81% of the broadband customers were satisfied with the speed of their fixed-line broadband connections in Q1 2009, showing a decline from 90% in 2006.

There were some key developments reported in the speed of the broadband connection. Digital Britain Report, published in June 2009 announced the plans to provide 2Mbps broadband service to all by 2012. Cable broadband ISP, Virgin Media completed its 50Mbps broadband service which is now available for 12.5 million homes. BT is also deploying its 21CN broadband network in the UK that can deliver super-fast broadband connection to 10 million homes by 2012.
Changing Broadband Consumer Choices
Nearly half of the UK households (46%) took bundle options till Q1 2009, a seven percent jump compared to Q1 2008. Under bundling services, most customers bought either double play (broadband + phone) or triple play (broadband + phone + TV).

This means, these customers purchased two or more services from the same provider. The price discount and the convenience of receiving a single bill for multiple services were the reasons for the popularity of communication services in bundles, it was reported.

More than 25% of the customers admitted to sharing of music online and 5% of the broadband users regularly involve in illegal file sharing.

More than half of the consumers (51%) considered watching TV as the most favourite media activity.

The consumer spend on communications services fell from 4.8% to 4.63% of total monthly household expenditure

If forced to cut back spending on the communications services, only one in ten consumers would cut spending on their broadband service showing how broadband is becoming an essential service in UK homes.