Ref: 73/01
Date: 4 November 2001

Consumers have made savings and benefited from new telecoms services as they make the most of the wide range of competitive offers available, new research published today by Oftel reveals.

Key findings of the research are:

• the average quarterly spend on fixed line telephone services fell by £5 between May and August 2001;
• 200,000 more businesses have gone on line in the last quarter; and
• almost 50 per cent of the UK adult population now use the Internet.

Oftel has also welcomed today's publication of a new leaflet by the telecoms industry to help consumers make better use of the choices available to them by enabling them to compare the performance of fixed line phone companies.

The new, easy-to-use leaflet - 'How well did your telephone company do?' - shows how efficiently all the main operators completed orders, dealt with faults and handled complaints and billing issues between January and June 2001.

David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications said today:

"Our research shows that UK consumers are taking advantage of the wide range of competitive telecoms services on offer and are making savings on their phone bill.

"Another 200,000 businesses have gone on line and half the adult population now use the Internet.

"With so much choice available, greater consumer awareness about price and quality is needed so that even more people can benefit from the competition that exists in the market.

"The new leaflet published today shows that the industry is working to meet the demands of consumers by providing clear and concise information to help consumers judge the performance of the different telephone companies.

"Oftel will continue to work closely with the telephone companies to improve the quality of the information in all areas of the telecoms market."

Notes to Editors

1. The research published today is in six parts and is available from Oftel's website:

Oftel surveys into business consumers use of fixed, Internet and mobile services for August 2001
www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/research/2001/q6fixb1101.htm
www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/research/2001/q6intb1101.htm
www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/research/2001/q6mobb1101.htm

Oftel surveys into residential consumers use of fixed, Internet and mobile services for August 2001
www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/research/2001/q6fixr1101.htm
www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/research/2001/q6intr1101.htm
www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/research/2001/q6mobr1101.htm

2. Hard copies of these reports are available to the media from Oftel's Press Office on 020 7634 8991 and to the public from the Research & Intelligence Unit on 020 7634 8761.

3. For further copies of the residential consumer leaflet - 'How well did your telephone company do?' please e-mail cpi@cpi.org.uk or telephone 0131 472 5558. The leaflet is also available at www.cpi.org.uk.