New research from Informa Telecoms & Media ranks the UK as number one in digital content consumption among all the markets of Western Europe — ahead of Finland, in the number two position, and number three, Italy.
Using what it calls the "Converging Media" (CM) index, Informa gave the UK a score of 30.5 (ranked at the end of 2005) putting it well ahead of Finland at 23.1.
"The UK is by far Western Europe's most digital market and its surprising number one ranking is due to the huge take-up of digital TV, the sector now boasts a base of almost 17 million users." said Steve Mullins of Informa. "On top of digital TV, the UK market also added 900,000 new customers to mobile-broadband services in the final quarter of last year, accounting for an impressive growth of 23%."
In addition, the report noted that the UK now has 4.8 million mobile high-speed subscribers.
Although ranking second in the CM Index, the Finns outdid the Brits with their on-the-go appetites as the market's mobile providers added 35,000 new broadband subs in the final quarter — a spike of 85% — to give Finland close to 80,000 mobile fat-pipe users.
Ranked third, Italy has Western Europe's leading mobile-broadband sector, with close to 10 million subscribers.
"The country's CM Index of 21.1 is largely based on its mobile performance rather than by fixed broadband and digital TV," said Mr. Mullins.
For more information on "Digital Britain", read the eMarketer report UK Online.