Half of all UK homes now online
Nearly 12 million households in the UK now have domestic access to the internet, according to the latest research by the Office for National Statistics.
That represents 47% of all households – a 4% increase on the same period last year.
And as of April this year, nearly two-thirds of all adults had used the internet at some time – a 5% increase on April 2002.
The most popular online services were email, sites with information about goods and services, and ordering tickets or products.
E-tailing continued to be popular among internet users, but the best-performing sectors continued to be holiday-related services, tickets for events, books and music.
Clothing, homewares and groceries again seemed to have failed to catch on with online shoppers.
Also, a large minority of adults – around 40% – still claimed never to have used the internet, and of this group more than half claimed that they were unlikely to go online in the future.
This hardcore group of 22% of all adults includes a significant proportion of older people who – ironically -are among those most likely to benefit from internet services such as remote shopping and government-related services and benefits.
There are also concerns that lack of access to high-speed internet connections could be preventing potential users from logging on.
Around a third of the population, largely in rural areas, cannot be connected to broadband, leading the Countryside Agency to point out earlier in the year that rural businesses and consumers are missing out on the latest opportunities.
