Nearly nine out of 10 households in the UK choose broadband to connect to the Internet, according to Ofcom’s second annual Consumer Experience study. The regulator’s 153-page tome is an exhaustive account of how customers have fared over the last year in the telecoms, internet and digital broadcasting markets. The overall sector has performed well, with strong uptake across all the services. But as competitors pile into the market, prices that consumers are paying are falling. Tons of charts and statistics here. Highlights include:

Internet:
- Internet take-up continues to grow, reaching 72 percent of the population in Q2 2007.
- In terms of broadband availability, ADSL dominates the market, covering 99 percent of the country as opposed to cable which covers 46 percent.
- Over half of consumers (58 percent) are aware that they can make calls over the internet, but only one in twelve consumers have ever used VoIP services and nine percent currently use these services.

Mobile:
- Mobile penetration stands at 92 percent; fixed-line penetration at 89 percent. For the first time, households with mobiles over took the percentage of households with fixed lines.
- The UK has one of the higher take-up rates of mobile services in the world—117 percent. Only Italy has a higher number of mobile subscriptions per 100 people--130 percent. (Over 100 percent means that some have more than one subscription).
- No surprise here--consumers who only own a mobile are much younger. Twenty-three percent of 15-24 year olds only have mobiles as opposed to 13 percent of 25-44 year olds and seven percent of 44-64 year olds.

Digital TV:
- Freeview is driving the growth of digital TV. Uptake for DTV has increased 73 percen tin Q1 2006 to 80 percent in Q1 2007.
- Digital satellite remains the most popular method of viewing, with a 35 percent market share. But digital terrestrial is catching up, growing from 25 percent in Q1 2006 to 32 percent in Q1 2007.

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