02/12/2010

By Scott Thompson

UK consumers are some of the earliest adopters of new communications technologies, according to new Ofcom research. They are among the best connected for broadband, mobile and digital TV and the UK has seen the fastest growth in smartphone take-up.

Ofcom’s fifth International Communications Market report into the global communications market looks at take-up, availability and use of broadband, landlines, mobiles, TV and radio in 17 countries. The UK saw the highest growth in smartphone take-up in the past year with a 70 per cent rise in subscriber numbers between January 2009 and January 2010, compared to 11 per cent in Italy. Italy has the highest take-up of smartphones overall among the comparator European countries with 26 subscribers for every 100 people, followed by Spain (21) and the UK (18).

People in the UK are using their mobile phones for social networking more than in other countries, with 24 per cent of UK consumers compared to 13 per cent of people in Germany. Younger people in the UK are more likely to visit social networking sites on their mobiles than in other countries, with 45 per cent of 18-24s and 38 per cent of 25-34s saying that they did this. The number of social networkers is also higher in the UK than other comparator countries among 18-24s and 55-64s. Eighty-six per cent of 18-24s in the UK say they use the internet for social networking, compared to 77 per cent in France and 48 per cent in Japan. Forty five per cent of 55-64s in the UK say they use the internet for social networking compared to 30 per cent in Germany and 13 per cent in Japan. Overall, Italy has the highest percentage of adults who use the internet for social networking at 63.4 per cent, closely followed by the UK and USA at 63.2 per cent.

The research also shows that internet users in the UK say they made more than double the number of online purchases in the past six months than internet users in any other major European country except Poland (19 and 14 online purchases respectively). The next country was Germany with nine purchases. In addition, the total value of online purchases internet users said they made in the past six months was highest in the UK with £1,031. This was nearly double the amount spent by internet users in the next-placed country, Germany with £595.