Only 9% of UK households use a high-speed connection to access
the internet, compared to 39% in Germany and 33% in Sweden. Even
France, which has a far lower overall penetration of the internet,
has a higher number of households using broadband.
Tom Ewing, Internet Analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings said:
“This time last year 5% of British surfers
were using a high-speed Internet connection. What we’re seeing here
is an improvement, but not much of one.
"Broadband is growing in this country but
the Government’s stated target of being the G7 leader in Broadband
connectivity by 2005 is absurd if you set it against current rates
of growth. This summer we did see a lot of aggressive marketing of
broadband, and there are signs that the uptake is rising, but it’ll
take more than just advertising to catch up with markets like
Germany.”
In the UK, 86% of home internet users still rely on dial-up 56k
modems. By comparison, the equivalent figure for Germany is
55%.
