The number of UK internet users with broadband access has increased by 60% in the last six months, according to new survey from NOP.
Approximately 8% of web users in Britain currently subscribe to broadband services and this figure is expected to rise to 15% by August 2003. This complements a recent report by Continental Research which predicted that 700,000 UK homes are set to switch to high speed internet connections in the next year (see
UK Web Users Catching The Broadband Bug, Says Research).
Contrary to popular opinion, cost is not regarded as the main impediment to broadband take-up with only a quarter of respondents citing this as a reason for not upgrading. In fact, most people seem to feel that they do not access the net enough to justify signing up for a high speed service.
However, new technology would appear to be encouraging greater use of the web with 75% of broadband users admitting that the amount of time they spend online has increased since they switched from a narrowband connection.
The research also showed that broadband subscribers visited a wider range of sites and downloaded larger files than dial-up internet users.
