|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
| Consumers’ use of Internet | |
||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
||
|
|
|
|||||
|
Summary of Oftel residential survey Q2 August 2000 Main findings 3 The extent of UK Internet usage at home 4 Are consumers making use of the range of connections and ISP packages available? 1.1 This report provides an overview of the key findings in the Internet market, taken from second quarter 2000/01 of Oftel’s quarterly residential consumer survey conducted in August 2000. Results from the first quarter (conducted in May 2000) are used for comparison purposes and referred to throughout this report. 1.2 The report provides a base for trend information on which subsequent quarterly results can be compared and examines differences between consumers with different social characteristics. 1.3 The survey was conducted for Oftel by MORI amongst 2092 UK adults between 17 and 21 August 2000, of whom 28 per cent claimed to have Internet at home. This report has been prepared by Oftel, based on the results provided by MORI. 1.4 The report covers:
1.5 The report covers the following questions:
(Footnote 1) This survey was conducted amongst a representative sample of UK adults, reflecting the UK profile of sex, age, social grade, region and employment status. Because the survey was conducted amongst a sample of adults, rather than the whole population, the data may be subject to a small margin of error. The error margin for this sample of 567 home Internet users is about 2-4%, but is higher amongst smaller subgroups. (Footnote 2) The report should not be seen as recommended best buys and should not therefore be relied upon when making purchase decisions. Oftel accepts no liability in respect of any of the results provided to it by MORI or any decisions taken by any person in reliance on the report.
2.1 Home Internet access continues to grow. During August 28 per cent of UK homes claimed to be connected, up from 25 per cent in May. With an average of just over two users per household, a conservative estimate indicates at least 16 million (25 per cent) of the population with Internet access at home. 2.2 The majority of home users access the Internet via a PC and their ordinary phone line. However, one in five Internet homes claim to have second lines specifically for their Internet usage, four per cent of Internet homes claim to use an ISDN line, and just less than one per cent claim to be accessing Internet facilities via digital TV. 2.3 Despite a previously reported shift in the demographic profile of home Internet users towards lower income groups and older consumers since January 1999, there was little further change to the overall user profile between May and August 2000. Home usage remains highest amongst the higher income groups and AB social grades and growth remains slow amongst the lowest income groups and consumers over the age of 55. 2.4 Consumers continue to make wide use of the range of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and usage packages available. The take up of unmetered packages continues to grow, with a quarter of home users claiming to have fully or partially unmetered access. A small minority of consumers claim to be using a number of ISPs in order to make best use of the different variety in content and unmetered packages available. 2.5 Although small base sizes require caution, results indicate increasingly heavier usage amongst those on unmetered packages compared with those paying for ‘per minute’ on-line call time. 2.6 Interest in ‘always-on’ and faster Internet access at a monthly cost of £10 is currently concentrated amongst about a quarter of home Internet users, particularly the higher income groups, larger households, and heavier than average Internet users. Overall, 17 per cent of home Internet users said they would be prepared to pay at least an additional £10 a month for faster Internet access. Similarly, 16 per cent said they would pay at least an additional £10 a month for ‘always-on’ availability. Only 6 per cent of Internet homes said they would pay at least an additional £10 for faster Internet access, and a further additional £10 plus for ‘always-on’ availability.
Main Findings 3 The extent of UK Internet usage at home 3.1 Across the UK, an average 28 per cent of homes (7 million) claimed to be connected to the Internet during August 2000, up from 25 per cent in May. Figure 3a shows home Internet connection trends since January 1999, during which time connections have more than doubled from 12 per cent. 3.2 PC ownership had remained fairly unchanged around the 40 per cent mark since January 1999. During August 2000 however, it reached 45 per cent, its highest level during this period. This may simply be a fluctuation, perhaps following summer sales, rather than a new upward trend in PC ownership. Until recently, PCs have been the main means of home Internet access and we will continue to track these levels in subsequent surveys as the uptake and expansion of alternative means of access such as digital TV continues. During August, 10 per cent of digital TV homes claimed to be accessing the Internet via this medium.
3.3 On average there were just over two Internet users per household. This equates to a conservative estimate of at least 25 per cent (16 million) of the population using the Internet at home. This is a growth of about 2 million home users since May 2000. A further 6 per cent of adults (c. 3 million) who do not have home Internet access, claimed to use the Internet at work / place of study, or elsewhere. At least 31% of UK consumers therefore have access. Which consumers have Internet access at home? 3.4 Figure 3b shows the proportion of UK consumers who have Internet at home. It identifies that home Internet usage is still most common amongst AB social grades and high income groups, over half of whom claim to have home Internet access. 3.5 Those least likely to have home Internet access were low income / DE social groups, consumers who are not working, and older consumers (55+). 3.6 Growth in home Internet penetration between May and August 2000 was highest amongst the younger age groups, particularly those under 35. It also tended to be higher than average amongst the ABC social groups. Penetration appears to have stabilised somewhat amongst the higher income groups and larger households, but continues to rise amongst those on medium incomes, and medium sized households. This is shown in figure 3b. 3.7 All regions experienced some increase since May in the proportion of homes with Internet access. Figure 3b shows combined data from both the May and August surveys, for individual regions, to provide more robust sample sizes (minimum of 200 in each area) on which to base conclusions. Overall, the south of England still appears to be leading the UK in home Internet access. Consumers in rented accommodation were considerably less likely than home-owners to have Internet (12 per cent vs 33 per cent respectively).
3.8 Home Internet users were also more likely than average to have other technologies including mobile phones and pay TV, particularly digital. This can be seen in figure 3c. 3.9 Home Internet users also tended to make more use of competition in the fixed phone market and were more likely to be using an alternative or additional supplier to BT. 3.10 There has been no change since May in the proportion of Internet homes who have second lines (three in 10), two-thirds of which are specifically for Internet use. This equates to about a fifth of Internet homes with second lines specifically for their Internet use. These were most popular amongst the higher income groups, larger households and cable supplied homes. 3.11 However, their Internet usage is not exclusively home-based as home users are also more likely than average to use the Internet at work or their place of study.
How has the profile of Internet homes changed? 3.12 Between January 1999 and May 2000 there was a slight shift in the profile of homes with Internet access. This is illustrated in figure 3d. Although still prevalent amongst the younger and middle age groups, and the working population and higher social classes, distribution had experienced a slight shift towards older users, lower social grades, and those not working. There has been little change in the profile of home Internet users since May however, and overall it would appear that the Internet is still a relatively specialist home technology, and has some way to go before becoming a more universal home product.
(Footnote 3) The error margin for this sample of 567 home Internet users is about 2-4%, but is higher amongst smaller subgroups. (Footnote 4) This is not necessarily full Internet access as offered via a PC (Footnote 5) Homes with more than 5 users were counted as 5
4. Are consumers making use of the range of connections and ISP packages available? 4.1 Consumers on the whole are making relatively wide use of the range of ISPs and Internet packages available, given the relatively short length of time that some of the deals have been available. 4.2 Use of unmetered packages continues to grow, with a quarter of home Internet users now claiming to use some form of unmetered access, up from 16 per cent in May. This is broadly in line with industry estimates at just over 1.5 million subscribers. Use of the traditional "ISP subscription and cost of calls whilst on-line" package, (which was the predominant pricing package until the end of 1998 when subscription-free packages were popularised by Freeserve) continues to fall, currently used by 16 per cent of home users as their main ISP package. Use of subscription-free packages also appears to have fallen slightly, as more home users move to unmetered packages. Figure 4a shows consumers’ use of ISP packages.
4.3 The May survey reported that one in three Internet homes claimed to use more than one ISP and half said they have switched ISP at least once. The August survey asked consumers to name all the ISPs they use for home Internet access and only eight per cent of home users named more than one ISP. This does not necessarily indicate a drop in multi-ISP usage, but may instead be an indication of the vast choice of ISPs which consumers are unable to name, particularly if they are not using them regularly. It many also reflect a maturing use of Internet amongst some homes trying out a selection of ISPs and then sticking to the one they prefer. 4.4 The main reasons for using more than one ISP were ‘in case one isn’t available/can’t be accessed’, and ‘for different amounts/allowances of unmetered access’. Other reasons included different ISPs for different content and variety, different members of the household using different ISPs, and failure to cancel old ISP contracts. 4.5 Freeserve was used by 29 per cent of home Internet users. This was followed by AOL, and BT Internet, each used by 10 per cent of Internet homes. Figure 4b shows the share of the ISP market based on what ISPs consumers said they were using.
4.6 Further information on satisfaction with ISPs, factors considered in selecting an ISP, and switching in the ISP market can be found in the Q1 May report Consumers’ use of Internet. Once they are connected, how long are consumers on-line? 4.7 There has been little change since May, in the average weekly household time spent on-line at about six hours. This is inflated by a small number of heavy users and in fact the majority of homes are on-line for less than this, with an average individual within a household online for about two hours a week. Only about one in 10 households claim to be using the Internet for more than a couple of hours each day. Further details of on-line activities can again be found in the May report. 4.8 The May survey found that more experienced users who had been connected for longer tended to spend slightly longer on-line than more recently connected users. This is confirmed in findings from the August survey. 4.9 Although income has been seen to be a contributing factor in connecting the Internet it was not a key determinant in the amount of time spent on-line. August results confirm findings from the May survey that heavier users tend to be larger households, but also the C2DE social grades. Younger consumers (aged 15-34) still claim to spend longer online each week than older consumers (aged 55+). What impact does the type of package have on levels and patterns of usage? 4.10 Despite small sample sizes in terms of the number of people picked up in the survey using partially or fully unmetered packages, early indications continue to support heavier use amongst those with unmetered packages, and differences appear to be becoming more marked. (figure 4c). This might be a result of heavier users being earlier adopters of unmetered packages, and is something we will continue to track in subsequent surveys as availability and usage of unmetered packages continues to grow.
What is the potential interest in alternative Internet access and connection mediums? 4.11 Only a small minority of home users claimed to use anything other than an ordinary phoneline and PC for their Internet connection. The survey picked up four per cent claiming to use ISDN lines and less than one per cent using digital TV Internet access. 4.12 The May survey reported that 68 per cent of Internet homes said they would be interested in faster Internet access but those who were prepared to pay for this service quoted an average £13 per month. 4.13 The August survey attempted to examine potential interest in more detail asking consumers whether they would be prepared to pay an additional £10 or £20 a month for ‘always-on’ Internet access or a similar amount for higher speed access in an attempt to determine which particular aspect they value more. 4.14 A quarter of Internet homes said they would be prepared to at least £10 for faster Internet access and/or ‘always-on’ availability. 12 per cent of Internet homes were prepared to pay an additional £10 a month for ‘always-on’ access to avoid spending time dialling up. Similarly, 12 per cent said they would pay an additional £10 a month for higher speed Internet access. These figures fell to four per cent and five per cent respectively at an additional cost of £20 a month. Only six per cent of Internet homes said they would pay at least an additional £10 for faster Internet access, and at least £10 for extra ‘always-on’ availability. 4.15 Interest was highest amongst the higher income groups, larger households and heavier than average Internet users. Older consumers (55+), the DE social grades, and small households were least likely to say they would pay £10 extra for ‘always-on’ or faster Internet access. Longer established users expressed only slightly higher levels of interest. (Footnote 6) % consumers using each ISP differs slightly from the data showing ISPs share of Internet connections in figure 4b because some consumers use more than one ISP.
5.1 Returning to the questions posed at the start of this report, the results provide a fairly good indication of the current shape of the Internet market, from the perspective and behaviour of the residential consumer. Is the Internet still a specialised consumer product or is it becoming more widespread? 5.2 Although home Internet usage continues to grow, it is still primarily the technology of early adopters who use a range of telecoms technology, and are generally from the AB social grades and higher income groups. Although takeup rates amongst the higher income groups and larger households appear to have temporarily stabilised, growth is slow amongst the lowest income groups and consumers over the age of 55. Generally the change in demographic profile of home Internet users is slow, and there has been little change to the overall profile of users in the last three months. What impact is unmetered access having on the amount of time spent on-line? 5.3 Early indications continue to support predictions about the potential impact of unmetered access. On-line time seems to be longer amongst those using unmetered packages and differences in average usage time between different package appears to becoming more marked (although caution should continue to be exercised as base sizes remain small). Although this might be a result of heavier users being earlier adopters of unmetered packages. Are consumers actively choosing and using a number of ISPs to make best use of the range of choices and packages available? What is the potential interest in new Internet access options such as faster access or ‘always-on’ availability? 5.4 Consumers appear to be making relatively wide use of the range of ISPs and packages available. The take up of unmetered packages continues to grow and a small number of consumers claim to be using more than one type of package, and a number of ISPs to take advantage of different amounts of unmetered access. 5.5 Interest in new access options including ‘always-on’ and faster access is currently concentrated amongst a small proportion of home Internet users, primarily the traditional ‘early-adopters’ – higher income groups and high telecoms spenders. Larger households and hence heavier users also expressed greater interest in these services. As availability and familiarity with these services becomes more widespread we will continue to track interest and uptake. Next steps 5.6 The next quarterly residential survey, November/December 2000, will continue to examine some of the above issues and changes to the home Internet market. The results from this and subsequent surveys will feed into Oftel’s review of the Internet access market towards the end of 2000.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||
 |
|
||||||
