Internet in the United Kingdom

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The United Kingdom has been involved with the Internet throughout its origins and development. The telecommunications infrastructure in the United Kingdom provides Internet access to homes and businesses mainly through fibre, cable, mobile and fixed wireless networks, with the UK's 140-year-old copper network, maintained by Openreach, set to be withdrawn by December 2025, although this has since been extended to 31st January 2027 in some areas due to reasons including panic alarms in sheltered housing needing a persistent connection which can't be guaranteed with internet-based DECT systems.[1][2]

The share of households with Internet access in the United Kingdom grew from 9 percent in 1998 to 93 percent in 2019.[3] In 2019, virtually all adults aged 16 to 44 years in the UK were recent internet users (99%), compared with 47% of adults aged 75 years and over; in aggregate, the third-highest in Europe.[4] Internet bandwidth per Internet user was the seventh highest in the world in 2016,[5] and average and peak internet connection speeds were top-quartile in 2017.[6] Internet use in the United Kingdom doubled in 2020.[7]

According to the Office of National Statistics and the Government of the United Kingdom's Culture, Media & Sport and Science, Innovation & Technology departments, the digital sector was worth more than £140 billion to the UK's economy per year, as of 2020.[8][9][10] Research by Adobe suggested the UK spent £110.6 billion online in 2022.[11]

The Internet top-level domain name specific to the UK is .uk, which is operated by Nominet. Four additional domains were introduced by ICANN for locations within the UK in 2014: .cymru and .wales for Wales,[12] .scot for Scotland,[13] and .london for London.[14]

  1. ^ "BT presses on with analogue switch off across UK". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  2. ^ Till, Lucy (24 May 2024). "BT Announces Delay in BT Switch Off to 2027". Tel Group. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Household internet penetration in the UK 1998–2018". Statista. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  4. ^ "Internet users, UK – Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Internet bandwidth by country, around the world". TheGlobalEconomy.com. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  6. ^ "Connectivity Report" (PDF). Q1 2017 State of the Internet. Akamai.
  7. ^ "UK internet use doubles in 2020 due to pandemic". BBC News. 30 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Digital Sector Economic Estimates: Regional Gross Value Added 2020". GOV.UK. 19 July 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  9. ^ "UK Digital Economic Research: 2020". Office for National Statistics. 24 May 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Digital Sector Economic Estimates 2020: annual GVA". GOV.UK. 6 April 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  11. ^ "Adobe Digital Economy Index: UK Consumers Spent £110.6 Billion Online in 2022, Driven by Heavy Discounting from Retailers". Adobe. 11 November 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  12. ^ "New .wales and .cymru domain web addresses go live". BBC News. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  13. ^ "New internet domain .scot goes on general release". BBC News. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  14. ^ Hern, Alex (15 November 2013). "London to get its own domain name in 2014". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 February 2024.