Broadband, UK and ever changing user behaviour patterns

In UK, Broadband has been extensively accessed by most of its residents. According to the 2009, National Statistics Opinion (Omnibus) survey 18.31 million UK households enjoy Internet access implying an increase of 18.5 millions household as compared to the previous year. Out of these, 63 % i.e. 16.5 million used a broadband internet connection.

Households in London, UK have the highest level of internet access at 80% while Scotland had just 62% of its household accessing the Internet. Considering the cross section of Internet Users, age group wise, the following trends have been revealed -

16 - 24 Age group - Highest level of Internet Access
86% of group use Internet everyday

Above 65 years - 15% increase in Internet access
52% of group use Internet almost everyday

Apart from communicating through emails, most of the adults in UK watch or download TV programmes or films from broadcasting websites such as BBC iPlayer being the most popular one. In order to enjoy downloading of data or even any other online activity, a high speed broadband connection is a must.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducted a survey in relation to UK ranks 21st with regards to broadband speed amongst the fastest 30 nations. The progress of high speed Broadband network has not kept pace with other European nations especially Finland, Sweden, France, Denmark and Netherlands. In fact even comparatively less developed nations such as Spain, Portugal and Greece have surpassed UK with regards to provision of high speed Broadband.

With most Internet users, UK enjoy broadband through phone lines ie ADSL connection or cable network, which are comparatively slower than fibre optic broadband speeds.

The major broadband providers, UK such as BT, Sky and Virgin Media provide broadband at affordable prices either as stand alone product or a combined bundle. BT is a leading provider of ADSL broadband connections across UK while Sky offers broadband through its cable network. Finally Virgin Media offers it through its fibre optic network.

Furthering BT's initiative to offer high speed broadband connection across UK, it has made extensive plans to provide the same across two thirds of its household customers. BT has already made considerable progress in its fibre optic network project which is slated to give fast broadband connection to 40 % of UK households by 2012. On the other hand Virgin Media is under extensive expansion plans apart from existing network which covers 50 % of UK. In the near future, Virgin is slated to offer 100 MB broadband speed as against its current 50MB broadband speed while BT offers up to 40 MB broadband speed.

People are increasingly depending on broadband for a variety of requirements ranging from online shopping, social networking, communication and even entertainment purposes. For indulging in these activities, people do require a high speed broadband connection which will thoroughly satisfy their browsing experience and get entertained as well. This makes it imperative for UK to offer high speed broadband to its citizens.