UK internet access growth now flat

The internet boom may be over in the UK, with the latest figures showing no significant rise in the number of homes and business getting online.

In figures published on Tuesday, telecoms regulator Oftel reported internet take-up by residential customers had slowed over the last year, and now shows no obvious further increase. According to its figures, the ratio of UK homes with internet access is currently stable at just over four in 10 households.

"Currently 42 percent of UK homes have internet access. Following slowed growth in home internet penetration it appears to have reached a plateau, having remained at a broadly similar level in the last 12 months," said Oftel.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics have previously showed that by November last year the number of dial-up customers was actually dropping as users migrated to broadband.

Growth in internet use in the business world has also tailed off.

According to Oftel's latest figures - for August-November 2002 - 67 per cent of all SMEs are linked to the internet, the same as in its research for May-August 2002. The number of medium-sized businesses with internet access appears to be reaching saturation, at 97 per cent penetration, said Oftel.

The figures suggest that many small and medium-sized firms are abandoning ISDN in favour of broadband, with dial-up connections also proving more popular.

Oftel found that 63 per cent of SMEs now have a dial-up connection, up from 55 per cent in May 2002, while the percentage with broadband is now 13 per cent, compared with 9 per cent in May 2002.

This is mirrored by a drop over the same period in the number using ISDN - down to 26 per cent from 36 per cent. The proportion with a leased line rose from 3 to 4 per cent. Oftel's figures add up to more than 100 per cent because some firms use more than one of these technologies.