“Internet penetration and usage continues to grow across households and individuals,” said Richard Goosey, chief of measurement science and analytics at Nielsen//NetRatings. “In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Germany continues to dominate in terms of absolute numbers of households and people with Internet access, recording the largest increase in the number of people and households gaining Internet access. In Latin America, Brazil is the dominant Internet market, while in Asia Pacific, South Korea continues to hold its top ranking, though Singapore experienced strong growth in Q4.”
The report also contains details of regional and demographic growth in the online population. “In Europe and Latin America, household access to the Internet is skewed toward homes where the head of household is age 35 or younger,” said Goosey. “In Europe, Internet access is also most common in homes that are headed by men with university degrees. The same is true in Asia Pacific, where homes headed by men with university degrees are also most likely to have Internet access, though age is not a determining factor in that region.”
Yesterday the Independent reported that almost 50% of UK homes are now online according to the latest figures published by Oftel. Oftel said recently that 11 million homes in the UK (45%) now have internet connections compared with 30% last year.
David Edmonds, director general of Oftel, said: “Action by Oftel, notably the requirement on BT to offer wholesale unmetered internet access, has helped to put this flourishing market in place.”
