Londoners biggest spenders on comms

Londoners spend more money on communications technologies such as mobile phones, the internet and digital TV than any other region of the UK, research from Ofcom has found.

But according to the government watchdog, people in Northern Ireland and Wales spend a much higher proportion of their incomes on these technologies than Londoners.

The regional report found that although urban areas have embraced broadband quickly, rural areas are just now beginning to catch up.

Data from BT claims almost all (99.9 per cent) of homes in the UK are connected to a broadband-enabled exchange yet not all can receive the service because they are too far from it.

Across the UK, the number of texts sent exceeds the number of calls from mobile phones made per week, with people in Northern Ireland and the east Midlands sending the most, according to Ofcom. London was found to be the only part of the UK where mobile phone calls exceeded texts.

People in Northern Ireland send the most texts per week: 37, nine more than the UK average. People in Wales rely most on mobile phones as their only way of making and receiving phone calls (13 per cent compared with an eight per cent UK average). Mobile phone users in Wales are also more likely to use pre-pay packages than the rest of the UK.

The research also shows people in Scotland watch the most digital television in the UK at 22 hours per week.