Fifty percent of UK adults now have a broadband connection, according to Ofcom’s latest Digital Progress Report, up from 39 percent last year.

The comms regulator also estimates that 13 million UK homes and SMEs now have a broadband connection.

Other key findings include an increase in the average connection speed from 1.6Mbit/s to 3.8Mbit/s for the year to the end of 2006, and a doubling of the number of adults using VoIP from five to 10 percent of the UK population over the same period.

However, the report also found that the UK lags behind other nations, including France, the US and the Netherlands, in the deployment of residential fibre connections.

Current Analysis analyst Sandra O’Boyle said, “Currently the pricing model for fibre to the home in the UK doesn’t stand up.”