UK Broadband Penetration Breaks 95% - US Broadband Penetration Grows to 93.4% among Active Internet Users - February 2009 Bandwidth Report

Summary: Broadband penetration in the UK has gone so high that the Office for National Statistics has discontinued its quarterly reporting of broadband growth. Nearly 60% of broadband users in the UK enjoy speeds of 2Mbps or higher.

The percentage of users on broadband in the UK rose to 95.1 percent in December 2008, according the to Office for National Statistics. More than 19 of 20 connections to the Internet are via broadband in the UK, according to a survey of Internet Service Providers. Due to the high penetration rate, the quarterly report has been discontinued. Meanwhile in the US, broadband penetration grew to 93.38 percent among active Internet users in January 2009.

UK Broadband Penetration Grows to 95.1 Percent

Of users connected to the Internet, 95.1 percent are on broadband connections, with 4.9 percent on dialup in the UK. Broadband penetration in the UK grew just over 5 percentage points from 90 percent in December 2008 (see Figure 1). The proportion of higher speed connections continues to increase in the UK, with 59.6 percent on connections faster than 2MBps, up from 51 percent a year earlier in December 2008.

UK Broadband Penetration Trends December 2008

Figure 1: UK Connection Speed Trends
Source: Office for National Statistics

Home Connectivity in the US

US broadband penetration grew to 93.38% in January 2009. Dial-up users connecting at 56Kbps or less now make up 6.62% of active Internet users, down 0.55 percentage points from 7.17% in December 2008 (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Web Connection Speed Trends - Home Users (US)
Source: Nielsen Online

Broadband Growth Trends in the US

In January 2009, broadband penetration among active Internet users in US homes grew by 0.55 percentage points to 93.38%, up from 92.83% in December. This increase of 0.55 points is higher than the average increase in broadband of 0.39 points per month over the last six months (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Broadband Adoption Growth Trend - Home Users (US)
Extrapolated from Nielsen Online data

Work Connectivity

As of January 2009, 97.09% of US workers connected to the Internet with broadband, up 0.29 percentage points from the 96.8% share in December. At work, 2.91% connect at 56Kbps or less (see Figure 4).