Broadband connections now account for over 95 per cent of UK internet access, according to the latest report from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). According to the ONS, broadband accounted for 95.1 per cent of all internet connections at the end of December 2008.
This shows a rise from 94.1 per cent in September 2008, representing a year-on-year increase of 4.4 per cent. Concurrently, the statistics showed a 17.5 per cent fall in the number of dial-up connections in the UK over the last quarter - signalling a 51.7 per cent year-on-year decrease.
The ONS report stated: "The market share of broadband connections has been increasing since the index began in 2001, reflecting its continuing popularity, widespread availability and increasingly competitive connection packages." In addition, the study also found that advertised speeds of broadband packages "may not be the speed attained by the end user", but that "the proportion of higher speed connections continues to increase".
However, the ONS report also noted a drop of 0.3 per cent in the number of overall internet connections in the UK during the last quarter, a trend that is perhaps a by-product of the current economic recession. The statistics have been revealed just weeks after the government summoned the UK's top five mobile networks to a meeting to discuss plans to provide universal broadband access by 2012.
At the meeting, O2 and Vodafone were urged to share some of their radio spectrum with competitors T-Mobile, 3 and Orange. This spectrum would then be used by these networks to provide consumers with more provide mobile broadband services.
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