Nearly three quarters of all connections to the Internet in the UK are now broadband, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The data includes business and domestic connections to the Net, and shows 72.6 per cent of these were broadband.

Data from ONS also shows an estimated 14.3 million households in Great Britain and Northern Ireland now have Internet access. Of these, 69 per cent have a broadband connection. This represents 40 per cent of all UK households.

The survey found that 65 per cent of men and 55 per cent of women had used the Internet over the past three months.

Statistics also show 40 per cent of women surveyed had never used the Web, compared with 30 per cent of men.

The rise in broadband connections is due in part to the increasing number of cheap broadband deals.

National Statistics Online