UK Lags Behind Europe in Broadband Take-Up

Newly released research from Nielsen//NetRatings shows that the number of households using broadband Internet connections in the UK is lower than in any other country in Europe.

Only 9% of UK households use a high-speed connection to dial up to the Internet, compared to 39% in Germany and 33% in Sweden. Even France, which has a far lower overall penetration of the Internet, has a higher number of households using broadband.

'This time last year 5% of British surfers were using a high-speed Internet connection,' commented Tom Ewing, Internet Analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings, 'What we're seeing here is an improvement, but not much of one. Broadband is growing in this country but the Government's stated target of being the G7 leader in Broadband connectivity by 2005 is absurd if you set it against current rates of growth. This summer we did see a lot of aggressive marketing of broadband, and there are signs that the uptake is rising, but it'll take more than just advertising to catch up with markets like Germany.'

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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