UK Homes And SMEs Getting More Broadband

Ofcom’s latest Telecoms Market Data report has revealed that the UK’s home and small business broadband connections reached 24.17 million in the second quarter of the year, an increase of just over four per cent compared to same period a year previous.

The report also reveals that many Internet users are moving towards fibre broadband services, with this type of connection seeing an increase of 5.9 per cent.

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BT’s market share of fixed broadband connections also increased, rising by 0.2 per cent to 32.3 per cent. The telecoms firm is likely to have benefitted from an indirect association with the government’s Broadband Support Scheme, which has been well-received by many businesses.

In terms of mobile services, the number of outgoing SMS and MMS messages continued to decline – a somewhat unsurprising trend given the rise of instant messaging applications like Whatsapp. In total, there was a decrease of 76 million messages when compared to the first quarter of the year and 2.2 billion when compared to Q2 2014.  Mobile call volumes did increase by 2.1 per cent since the previous quarter, however, and mobile telephony services generated £3.8 billion in retail revenues, an increase of 1.1 per cent.

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Many telecoms firms will be pleased to note fixed line telephone services did not experience a downturn in the second quarter, despite some analyst predictions indicating that mobile growth would cause a decrease in the domestic market.

Image Credit: Shutterstock/asharkyu

Author: Barclay Ballard
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