'Always on' Internet connections continue to grow

The latest monthly survey of UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) shows that in the year to September 2003 there was a 4.1% increase in the number of subscriptions to the Internet and a 130% increase in 'always on' connectivity.

The month-on-month change between August and September 2003 was 0.9%. Dial-up connections have continued to decline, while the market share for permanent connections continued to increase to reach 19% compared with 8.4% a year ago.

The figures revealed that dial-up versus permanent Internet connections displayed quite different patterns of growth. The year-on-year decrease to September 2003 was 7.7% for dial-up connections, with a decrease of 0.3% from August 2003 to September 2003. However, the year-on-year growth for permanent connections was 130.1% - up 6.1% from August 2003.

Though dial-up connections continue to dominate overall internet subscriptions in the UK, permanent connections continue to increase. As of September 2003, permanent connections made up 19% of total subscriptions in September 2003, up from 18.1% in August 2003 - an increase in market share that reflects the continued marketing and increase in availability of broadband services.

The percentage of subscriptions using free access or billed access was 41%, compared with 48% a year ago. The percentage of those paying a fixed rate for unmetered access was 33%.

A research report today from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) estimates that widespread take up of competitively priced broadband could boost the UK economy by £22bn a year.

CEBR claimed that the benefits to businesses would be equivalent to a 2.5% rise in productivity by 2015.

(SP)