More than half of all Brits are giving broadband the cold shoulder

Ofcom has released some startling stats this week revealing over half of the British population still remain unconvinced by broadband.

Speaking to the London School of Economics, Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom warned that a surprising 55 per cent of consumers in Britain don’t show any sign of being persuaded to get connected to even the most basic of broadband services:

“Even though people are bombarded by messages about the range of benefits of being online – whether buying cheap insurance or catching up on last week’s soaps – there seems to be millions of people who are not yet persuaded,” said Richards.

He continued: “We need to tackle the challenge of low-income households who can’t afford access. We need to first examine the reasons why so many people, nearly 40 per cent of households, do not even have basic Internet access.”

To put things into perspective, out of the 55 per cent found not to be interested in any broadband service at all 30 per cent felt that they simply couldn’t afford an extra monthly bill. Meanwhile, 15 per cent claimed even if they could justify the cost, they didn’t have a computer to use anyway.

In his speech at the London School of Economics, Ed Richards took some time to comment on the proposed plans for a 2Mb minimum speed universal service obligation (USO). He mentioned it could be far more economical for homes to receive basic in-house wiring improvements rather than wait for an entirely new network.

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