A Fast Track Analysis of ICT Constraints on Evolving Physical ... - ITRC

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Figure 1.71
Communications infrastructure availability across the UK’s nations
UK England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland
Proportion <strong>of</strong> individuals/homes
100
80
60
40
20
0
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
85%
85%
99%
98%
66%
Fixed telephony/ Digital terrestrial
broadband television
96%
99%
85%
84%
87%
95%
99%
84%
82%
54%
89%
91%
81%
84%
75%
48%
51%
37%
23%
30%
2G mobile 3G mobile LLU Cable
broadband
23%
23%
8%
14%
81%
FTTC
Sources: Ofcom and:
Figure 2: Communications 1. DTT: Availability <strong>of</strong> infrastructure 17 services. Ofcom availability estimates. across the UK’s nations by percentage <strong>of</strong> population
2. Proportion <strong>of</strong> population living in postal districts where at least one operator reports at least 90%
covered (Ofcom, 2G area 2011a)
Figure coverage. 1.3 Sourced Household from penetration GSM Association <strong>of</strong> broadband / Europa Technologies (Q2 2011). Note that
coverage data has been restated; this means that year-on-year comparisons are not possible.
3. Proportion <strong>of</strong> population <strong>of</strong> adults (%) living in postal districts where at least one operator reports at least 90%
3G area coverage. Sourced from GSM Association / Europa Technologies (Q2 2011). Note that
coverage
100
data has been restated; this means that year-on-year comparisons are not possible.
PC / laptop
5. Proportion <strong>of</strong> households connected to an LLU-enabled exchange
6. Proportion 68 <strong>of</strong> households passed 71by Virgin Media’s 72 74 76
78
80
67
broadband-enabled network 77
73 75
Internet
7. Proportion <strong>of</strong> households connected 64 to an FTTC-enabled 67
68exchange.
71 74
60 60 60
65 65 67
Total
58
1.7.4 Coverage <strong>of</strong> 2G and 3G mobile services
broadband
52
40
41
28 Fixed
Figure 1.72 illustrates the geographic coverage <strong>of</strong> 2G 20and 3G mobile 22 services. It highlights
broadband
31
postcodes 20 only where there is mobile coverage <strong>of</strong> at least 90%. Those parts <strong>of</strong> the Internet country on
mobile
where choice between mobile phone operators is greatest tend to coincide with areas <strong>of</strong> high
12
15 17
population 0
Mobile
density, or with a major road network. The result is that geographic mobile broadband phone
coverage 2005 in Q1 the UK 2006 tends Q1 to be 2007 lower Q1 than 2008 population Q1 2009 coverage. Q1 2010 Lower Q1 network 2011 Q1 coverage in
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, compared to England, is a reflection <strong>of</strong> large areas <strong>of</strong>
low population QE1: Does Figure your density household 3: and Household areas have a where PC penetration or laptop hilly or computer? mountainous <strong>of</strong> broadband / QE2: terrain Do you (Ofcom, or limits does the anyone 2011a) range in your <strong>of</strong>
cellular household masts. have access to the internet/World Wide Web at home (via any device, e.g. PC, mobile
phone etc)? / QE6: Which <strong>of</strong> these methods does your household use to connect to the internet at
home?
<strong>of</strong> people in each Source: localOfcom authority technology areatracker, 6 . Current Q1 2011. <strong>ICT</strong> infrastructure availability is displayed in Figure 2. The
percentages show Base: proportion All adults aged <strong>of</strong> 16+ population (n=3474) living in postal districts where at least one operator reports at
Note 1: “Internet on mobile” is the % <strong>of</strong> adults who use a mobile phone for any <strong>of</strong> the following
least 90% coverage. activities: Instant messaging, downloading apps or programs, email, internet access, downloading
Wireless-broadband video, video Internet streaming, access visiting remains social networking the strongest sites. growth sector. Mobile Internet – at broadband
Note 2: From,Q1 2009 the ‘Internet’ figure includes those who access the internet on mobile phones.
speeds – was practically non-existent in year 2000 7 . Now, the take-up <strong>of</strong> mobile broadband continues to rise
and currently stands UK consumers at 17%, continue while 7% to <strong>of</strong> adopt the digital population communications relies solelytechnologies
on a mobile broadband service in 2011
(Ofcom, 2011a).
Figure 3 shows Take-up increase <strong>of</strong> digital in television broadband (DTV) take-up grew by – four Internet percentage penetration points during now2010 exceeds to reach PC96%
penetration. The
<strong>of</strong> all TV homes, with the digital switch-over programme likely to have been the driver for
use <strong>of</strong> the Internet some onhomes a mobile converting phoneto has digital. grown substantially, driven by the growth in the smartphone market
and mobile networks <strong>of</strong>fering competitive mobile data packages, both allowing easier and more affordable
access to mobileThe Internet proportion services <strong>of</strong> homes than with before. digital video recorders (DVRs) continued to increase sharply
The demandduring for mobile 2010, from Internet 37% to is46%, increasing while 32% with <strong>of</strong> households the “smartphone claim to have revolution”: access to HDTV 27% <strong>of</strong> UK adults now
channels in their living room.
claim to own one, 32% <strong>of</strong> people use their mobiles to access the internet. Year 2010 saw a 67% increase in
data transferredOver overa the quarter UKs (27%) mobile <strong>of</strong> adults networks in the UK (Ofcom, say that 2011a). they now Increase have a smartphone, in demandwith has the shifted the strategic
focus <strong>of</strong> telecoms majority service claiming providers to have towards purchased driving this in the uplast the year. availability Similar to Q1 <strong>of</strong>2010, higher-speed over half <strong>of</strong> networks. all Mobile
households have a games console (54%), while a third (32%) have a DAB set. E-readers
operators are continuing to upgrade their 3G 8 networks to <strong>of</strong>fer higher data speeds. Next-generation 4G 9
have become increasingly popular over the past year, increasing from 1% take-up in Q1
networks would2010, exceed to 4% super-fast at the start fixed <strong>of</strong> 2011. broadband Two per cent speeds. <strong>of</strong> households have a tablet computer, such
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6 as the Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Recent information about investments on 14 August 2011 in Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/14/superfastbroadband-go-uk-wide
7 2nd generation mobile services (2G) only provided SMS data services, but no internet (this was 2.5G).
8 3G specifies 100kbit/s broadband speeds.
9 4G specification defines 100Mbit/s speed for moving (cars, trains), 1Gbit/s for pedestrians and stationary.
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