Dot-com gloom fails to deter UK's net obsession

UK consumers are taking to the Net in droves despite recent high-profile failures of dot-com start-ups.

A report by market research group, Netvalue, claims that home usage has increased 15 per cent in the past six months to 9.9 million subscribers, with the over 50s accounting for almost 20 per cent of internet users.

The average home user spends six hours per month online - one and a half hours more than six months ago. The number of women regularly using the internet increased 22 per cent from 3.4 million to 3.8 million in the same six month period.

Over 3.6 million users regularly visit a porn site - second in popularity only to music and book sites, while two million home users regularly gamble online.

Jannie Cahill, marketing manager at Netvalue, said the results show the downturn in fortunes of dot-com firms has not adversely affected the home user market.

She said: "The increase in home internet use has wider implications for marketeers and advertisers. Not only are more people logging on, the demographics are changing - there are more women and elderly people online, and adverts have to appeal to these groups."

Meanwhile, a study of 332 UK companies by exhibition organisers Reed, claims 91 per cent of UK firms will be conducting business on the net within two years, with 25 per cent expecting to generate almost half their sales over the internet by that time.

While 83 per cent of companies have a website, only one quarter of these currently use it to take orders and make purchases.

Tim Porter, director of IT and communications with Reed, said that the figures showed attitudes towards the internet are changing rapidly.

He added: "People now expect the net to be part of their business. They realise ebusiness has to be part of their future."