Thirty percent of us in the UK have used the internet to watch video content – but those in Edinburgh are the biggest users (45 percent) and we Welsh are bottom (24 percent), according to Ofcom’s latest annual Nations and Regions Communications Market Report. Other figures…
— Broadband: 57 percent of homes now have broadband, eight percent have dial-up. Take-up increased 10 percent between 2006 and 2007 in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with Sunderland top on 66 percent. Most interestingly, despite years of “digital divide” fears, those in rural areas “are now equally or more likely than those in urban areas to have broadband at home” (in fact, the report pegs rural broadband at 59 percent, urban at 57 percent).
— Mobile: 24 percent of people have used the mobile internet (Dundee highest on 34 percent, north-west England lowest on 14 percent). 17 percent of adults have used mobile audio services, just four percent have used mobile video.
— Phone: Three percent of fixed-line customers have shifted to mobile, on which 12 percent of homes now rely entirely, especially in Belfast (23 percent), Liverpool (21 percent) and Glasgow (20 percent). Ofcom reckons mobile broadband offerings may further erode land line ownership.
— TV: 85 percent of people now have digital TV – highest in Sunderland (96 percent), Cardiff (95 percent) and Glasgow (95 percent).