The communications sector at a glance
Facts and statistics on the communications sector, taken from Ofcom's research publications.
This information is correct as of 3 August 2023.
Internet use
On average, adults in the UK spent almost
hours online each day in September 2021.
But alarmingly,
believe everything see online – that's around one in every twenty internet users.
of UK internet users aged 13+ feel that the benefits of being online outweigh the risks...
...but in the last four weeks,
of users have encountered at least one potential harm online.
Despite being more active users of social media, only
of women feel free to share their opinions and have a ‘voice’ online (compared to 48% of men).
of adult internet users want to see tech firms take responsibility for monitoring content on their sites and apps.
For more information on these statistics, please see our Online Nation 2022 report and our children’s and adults’ media literacy research reports.
TV, radio and other media
UK homes subscribe to all three streaming giants – Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+
People aged 16-24 only watch
minutes of broadcast TV in an average day...
...while those aged 65 and over spend almost
hours per day in front of the TV set
Public service broadcasters spent
on new, UK-made programmes in 2021 – the most since 2017
On average, young adults' TikTok use clocked in at
minutes per day in March 2022
Listening to live radio on a radio set accounts for
of our total listening time – down from 71% five years ago
For more information on these statistics, please see our Media Nations 2023 report.
Broadband and mobile services
More than
UK households can take advantage of faster, full-fibre broadband
homes and businesses cannot get 'decent' broadband (download speeds of 10 Mbit/s and upload speeds of 1 Mbit/s)
of premises in the UK can now get a 5G signal outdoors
For more information on these statistics, please see our Connected Nations: Spring 2023 update report.
Postal services
UK parcels were delivered in 2021.
of customers have experienced problems with deliveries in the last three months.
Disabled customers are almost
more likely to experience significant problems with parcel deliveries.
For more information on these statistics, please see our Annual Monitoring Report on the postal market.