Broadband Britain: population 3 million

Broadband take-up is running at record levels ahead of previous predictions, with three million households and small businesses now toting fat pipes, according to the latest figures from telecoms regulator Oftel.

More than 40,000 high-speed internet connections are being installed a week – although Oftel qualifies that by stating they are for download speeds of between 128 kbit/s and 2 mbit/s.

Despite coming in for criticism from various parts of the telecoms industry for its delay in forcing BT to unbundle the local loop for other telecoms providers, Oftel claims "to have played a major part in the creation of Broadband Britain".

David Edmonds, director general of Oftel, said in a statement: "In the last five years the internet has moved from the margins to the mass-market, with half of all UK households and two-thirds of businesses now online. That shift - with some of the lowest prices in the world - was significantly boosted by Oftel's intervention to bring about flat-rate narrowband access."

Other highlights from the research show that half of UK households and two-thirds of UK businesses are now online, one in five homes with internet access have broadband, broadband take-up is outstripping cable modem connections by a factor of three to one and UK broadband retail prices are "significantly cheaper" than in the US and Germany.

Ecommerce Minister Stephen Timms acknowledged the UK had been a "slow starter" but said "real progress" is now being made towards take-up of five million.