Good News, Bad News

There was good news last year for U.K. service providers, according to Ofcom. Household usage and adoption of communications services accelerated. The number of households with broadband connections increased by 63 percent between 2004 and 2005, to a total of 9 million and the number of households with digital television also increased by 18 percent between March 2005 and March 2006, to a total of 18.3 million. Mobile phone usage also increased, accounting for 31 percent of all call minutes, up from 28 percent in 2004 and 20 percent in 2001.

The bad news is that aggregate customer spend seems to have dropped, despite the upsurge in usage.

Between 2004 and 2005 typical household telecoms costs fell by 5 percent, from £80 a month to £76 a month.

Ofcom data also shows that younger consumers are turning away from television, radio and newspapers in favour of online services , including downloadable content used on mobile devices. Television is of declining interest to many 16 to 24 year olds, Ofcom says. On average they watch television for one hour less per day than the average television viewer.

Instead, the internet plays a central role in daily life. More than 70 percent of 16 to 24 year old internet users use social networking websites, compared to 41 percent of all U.K. Internet users. The same group also uses mobile phones extensively, on average making seven more calls and sending 42 more texts per week than the wider U.K. population. Radio listening also is lower, by an average of 15 minutes a day compared to the wider population. Some 27 percent of those surveyed said they read newspapers less as a consequence of their online usage.