Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2005/07/13/ofcom_digital/

UK is a booming digital nation

Fantastic

By Tim Richardson

Posted in Networks, 13th July 2005 13:22 GMT

Digital services are booming in Britain, according to research from regulator Ofcom. Everywhere you look, people are hooking up to broadband, switching on digital TV, listening to DAB radio and chatting using mobile and VoIP technology.

The UK is a walking talking digital nation with consumers and businesses "adopting digital networks and formats with increasing enthusiasm".

According to Ofcom's second annual Communications Market report, 2005 is the year that broadband became a "genuinely mainstream consumer product" with more households now wired up to high speed net access than dial-up.

Although three in ten of all households are now hooked-up to broadband, that figure is set to grow still further as more than 70,000 new connections are made each week.

At the end of June, for example, there were more eight million broadband lines in the UK, said Ofcom, while the number of DAB digital radios out there increased from 250,000 in Autumn 2003 to 1.5m in 2005.

In fact, we love digital stuff so much we're coughing up loadsamoney for our favourite services. Spending on TV and phone-related services now accounts for around four per cent of all consumer expenditure - with households blowing on average more than £1,000 a year on telecoms.

Said Ofcom bigwig Ed Richards: "This report shows that UK households are now accelerating into the digital age.

"In parallel, industries formed over decades are being reshaped by digital broadcasting and broadband with every month that passes." ®

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