UK firms are broadband laggards

UK companies are lagging behind their continental rivals in the broadband stakes, according to European research.

A survey by the European Statistical Office, Eurostat, found that 94 per cent of businesses questioned now have internet access - a rise of three per cent over 2005. Broadband internet coverage is also still on the up with 75 per cent of enterprises now having high speed connections, compared to 63 per cent in 2005.

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According to the figures, 77 per cent of companies in the UK use broadband - meaning Blighty lags behind Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Denmark and Belgium.

The countries with the highest proportion of businesses hooked up to the internet are Finland (99 per cent), Austria and Denmark (98 per cent) and the Netherlands (97 per cent). The UK has 92 per cent of businesses online but only 77 using broadband, according to the survey. Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of UK households are online, with 44 per cent using broadband.

The survey found nearly half of individuals use the internet once or more per week, and a third of all households now have broadband internet access. It was also shown that on average, men are more likely to use the internet than women (52 per cent to 43 per cent respectively).

The countries with the highest proportion of regular internet users are Sweden, (80 per cent), Denmark (78 per cent) and the Netherlands (76 per cent). Bottom of the heap is Greece, where only 23 per cent of people use the internet regularly.

The survey was carried out over the first quarter of 2006 and covered the 25 European member states as well as Iceland and Norway.