Mobile internet has driven up overall broadband usage in the UK, according to communications regulator Ofcom.
Broadband take-up in the UK has jumped by six percent in the past year, Ofcom said today.
According to the communications regulator, strong growth in the popularity of mobile broadband has caused the overall rise in usage, which increased from 52 to 58 percent in the past 12 months.
Around two million Britons are thought to have used a data card, USB modem or a "dongle" in a single month earlier this year. Moreover, between February and June, sales of dongles were shown by Ofcom to be rising rapidly - going from 69,000 to 133,000 a month.
Peter Phillips, a partner at Ofcom, said: "Our devotion to watching, listening and staying in touch wherever and whenever we want shows no sign of diminishing and, with healthy competition, overall prices offer increasing value for money."
Ofcom's new report also contained more general statistics on communications in the UK. It found that people used services including TV, mobile phones and internet connections for an average of seven hours and nine minutes a day. This is up by six minutes over 2002's total.
Mr Phillips added: "We are spending more and more time with our communications devices but spending less on them."
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