UK consumers are increasingly seeing the Internet as a resource for obtaining all manner of goods and services, according to the latest market survey by communications regulator Ofcom.
The survey found that more than a quarter (27%) of UK Internet users watch TV online every week, an increase of three percentage points from one year earlier, and higher than any of the other countries surveyed (France, Germany, Italy, US, Canada, Japan, Australia, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Brazil, Russia, India and China).
The UK also saw the largest growth in digital video recorder (DVR) take-up out of the countries surveyed, with over a third (36%) of homes now owning a DVR - a four percentage increase from 2009.
Among the six countries surveyed, the UK is now second only to the US in terms of DVR ownership.Overall TV viewing in the UK increased by 7.6% in 2010 compared to 2009, with the average person watching just over four hours of TV per day (242 minutes).
This was the highest year-on-year increase out of all the countries surveyed, and 31 minutes more than the average of 211 minutes per person.Despite the economic downturn, communications revenues were found to have increased across all 17 countries covered in the report last year, with the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) generating the strongest growth.
Total retail telecoms revenues generated in the 17 countries surveyed reached GB£ 594bn in 2010, up 1.9% year-on-year, while TV revenues increased 7.7% by the same comparison to reach GB£ 239bn.
The UK's communications regulator used its latest market report to talk up the country's broadband scene, stating that overall availability of high-speed fixed broadband in the UK compares favourably to other European countries. By June 2011, 59% of UK households had access to Virgin Media's fibre network or BT's super-fast service.
However, actual take-up of high-speed services by UK households remains low: just 4% of UK households were subscribing to super-fast broadband services in June 2011, compared to 40% in Japan and 10% in the US.
This is however higher than Germany (3%), Spain (2.2%) and Italy (1.5%).Super-fast mobile broadband services based on LTE technology are expected to launch in the UK in 2013, following the 4G spectrum auction in the second half of 2012. Some countries such as Sweden have however already launched 4G services, offering speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
Smartphone ownership nearly doubled in the UK between February 2010 and August 2011, from 24% to 46%, and take-up of these devices was higher in the UK than among the other European Countries surveyed (France: 35 per cent, Germany: 32 per cent, Italy: 40 per cent and Spain: 45 per cent). Nearly half (46%) of UK Internet users employed their phones to go online in October 2011, according to the report - a higher proportion than all the other countries surveyed.
A quarter of UK mobile users also accessed new content on their mobiles - a "significantly higher" proportion than in other European countries, due in part to higher smartphone take-up, and the greater likelihood of UK newspapers to have mobile-specific websites.The communications watchdog also gave itself a glowing report for the current price of communications services in the UK.
The cheapest price for a typical family "basket" of communications services (consisting of a fixed-line phone with high use, four mobile phones with varying use, a fixed broadband connection and a basic pay TV subscription) available to consumers in the UK was found to be GB£ 114 (US$ 177) per month, second only to France (GB£ 79). Prices for this basket in the UK increased by 10 per cent between 2010 and 2011, due largely to increases in the prices of the low-use mobile phone services.
Social networking sites proved a predictable hit in the latest market report, with over three-quarters of consumers in the markets surveyed reporting that they have visited a social networking site, and the majority saying that they visit on a daily basis. This trend is however much higher among 18-24 year olds.
Social networking sites were found to be most popular in Italy, with 91% of Italian respondents stating they have visited a social networking site and a quarter visiting over five times a day, compared to 79% of UK respondents having ever visited, and one in five visiting over five times a day.UK consumers are believed to be more likely to access social networking on a mobile phone than other countries, with 43% of those with social network profiles saying they do so, compared to just 30% in the US.
Italian social networkers were found to have the most "friends" with 216, compared to 198 for US social networkers, 168 for Brits, 137 for Germans and 108 for the French.Finally, Ofcom found that eight in ten UK Internet users reported that they had ordered goods or services online in 2010 - higher than any other European country, with just 27% of consumers in Italy claiming to have done so.
UK internet users were also more likely to visit retail websites online than other countries, with nine in ten (89 per cent) claiming to do so in 2011.
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