The UK leads the world when it comes to mobile data, internet shopping and catch-up TV. That’s the conclusion of Ofcom’s seventh International Communications Market Report, which looked at the availability, adoption, price and use of broadband, fixed-line telephone, mobile, TV, radio and postal services in 16 major countries.
58% of UK adults had a smartphone - one of the highest penetration figures worldwide - while 19% had a tablet device.
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Podcast - 12th December 2012
This week's podcast includes news of two more UK virtual networks, Nokia's property deal, a break-up for ST-Ericsson and Huawei's new partnership with Three.
We also look at WiFi hotspots in London taxis, Ofcom's research into customer service, pre-loaded security software on Android smartphones and a man whose iPhone may have cost him a job.
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From Christmas SMS to customer service
Mark Bridge writes:
We started last week with a 20th birthday party for the SMS text message, which was first used as an alternative Christmas card by Neil Papworth in 1992. Since then, mobile data has been transformed from the familiar dit-dit-dit dah-dah dit-dit-dit of Nokia phones to non-stop internet connectivity on smart devices.
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Ofcom’s latest quarterly report into the customer service provided by landline, broadband, mobile phone and pay TV companies shows a significant change in the mobile sector.
Overall, thousands of consumers who’d contacted their provider between July and September 2012 were asked to rate the customer service they’d received. 67% of mobile phone users were satisfied with their network’s customer service, compared with 62% of fixed broadband users, 64% of landline customers and 69% of pay TV subscribers.
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Ofcom has launched a consultation about new laws that would allow ‘white space’ technology to be used the UK.
These so-called ‘white spaces’ are the unused parts of frequency bands that have been reserved for other uses, such as TV broadcasting, but could also be used for other applications such as broadband and M2M connections.
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