The percentage of UK homes connected to the internet remained static at 39% during the three-month period ending in August 2001, according to the latest quarterly report from Oftel, released in November.
The number of households with access to the web has been growing steadily since January 1999 and this is the first time that there has not been a significant increase in users accessing the internet from home.
Uptake surged during the same period last year, with over a million people going online between June and August; while Oftel maintains ‘it is too early to tell’, the lack of growth this quarter could indicate ‘a change in the long-term trend’.
According to the report, PCs continue to be the preferred method of accessing the web and those with home internet access remain more likely to have digital TV.
The survey also shows that the internet market as a whole remained broadly unchanged, with web usage continuing to be most prominent amongst AB social grades, higher income groups, larger households and younger consumers. A gradual rise in the number of C2DE households and lower income groups connecting to the net during Q3 was revealed – a result of the cost of digital TV falling and mobile phone wireless net access capabilities increasing.
