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UK consumers living the digital good life
Fondness for TV pushes Brits up tech league

By Jo Best

Published: Tuesday 20 April 2004

Following on from news yesterday that the UK was narrowly pipped to the post of being the world's web-savviest, new research reveals that Brits are enjoying the digital good life compared to other European nations.

A report published today by Jupiter Research - the Digital Life Index - examines how European countries measure up to each other on six key digital determiners: internet-access adoption, TV adoption, wireless and mobile, online advertising and ecommerce, online activity and digital devices.

Overall, the UK is beaten by the Scandinavian countries but fares better than France, the Netherlands or Germany and outpaces countries such as Italy and Spain, which are at the bottom of the digital pile.

The UK owes its decent showing in part to its fondness for watching the box - the UK has the highest adoption rate for digital TV across the whole of Europe. It also fares particularly well in the online commerce stakes, beaten only by tech tiger Sweden.

Sweden is rated as having the best digital life overall. The report says the country rates so highly due to "widespread internet penetration, high broadband adoption, strong internet commerce and advertising trends as well as mature internet surfing habits."

However, the UK is brought down the list by its shabby internet access. The report believes that the situation is set to change dramatically during the course of this year. "Consumers and governments will no longer be asking, 'is broadband available?' They will instead be asking, "what type of broadband is available?'" the report says.