Hail Britannia! (on the Internet)

UK communications regulator Ofcom says the country leads 12 industrialized nations when it comes to embracing digital technology, offering the cheapest mobile, basic pay-TV and broadband rates. Further, the country spends more time on the Internet than the rest of Europe.

Broadband take rates are at 60 percent, while half the UK uses social media sites such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace.  Uploading photos to the 'net is the most popular networking activity, with 43 percent of the population participating, according to the report.

Advertisers can take heart (or fear) that nearly a fifth of advertising spending is now online, but it doesn't appear that there's cannibalization of traditional broadcast media ads to the Internet.

A poll found that of UK residents who watch online TV, 81 percent do so at least once a month, 54 percent do so weekly or more often, and 6 percent get their fix daily.

We Yanks can take comfort that we spend more minutes online per week (913) than our British cousins (839). The Brits have us beat in social networking (50 percent vs 40 in the U.S.), and Ireland has everyone beat when it comes to text messages sent per person per month - 154.

For more:
- TheTelegraph dials in UK net usage.

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