You have to ask what’s the point!?
It’s so exciting when you come across announcements such as that made by the Government this week saying that they are attempting to get over 7 million people who can’t get online today, access to the internet. By 2014!
This is of course great news!
The plan is being underpinned by funding in a number of areas
An Ofcom study suggests that 2 in 10 people without broadband internet access at home intend to get it within the next six months. They say that 70% of us already have it (68% broadband internet, 2% narrowband!). So the 20% of the remaining 30% suggests that 6% of the whole population will rush to sign up in the next 6 months.
That’s a fairly significant number of people signing up for broadband internet access. Being a bit of a sceptic sometimes I did read the report (exec summary anyway, me being an exec and all) to see whether I could believe it.
Actually, there is one simple metric that does tend to support the number: growth in people with PCs at home. The chart below shows the growth in fixed, mobile, internet and PC use at home. You can see that a significant 4 percent of people have a PC but not an internet connection. That together with a continued growth trend does suggest credibility.
Note the flat mobile growth and the gradual decline in fixed line.
