Half of all UK homes now have Internet access according to new consumer research published by Oftel

The key findings of the research show:

12.5 million UK households are now on-line, with 750,000 new connections over the last three months

Around one million Internet customers are likely to upgrade to broadband over the next 12 months

UK prices for dial-up Internet access are cheaper than other European countries surveyed, with prices for residential broadband generally below the European average

The UK offers a wider availability of unmetered services than other countries surveyed.

Oftel has published the following quarterly research reports:

Oftel has also published an 'International benchmarking report' of Internet services covering both basic dial-up access and broadband services. The report covers Internet services in France, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom and the US (the States of Ohio and California are used for dial-up services; the study covers a number of the largest providers of broadband who offer services across a range of States).

NB: these Oftel reports are now all stored in the Ofcom archive and can be found using their search facility - http://www.ofcom.org.uk/find_document/