Ofcom has published the results of its latest study into the state of internet connectivity in the UK. The statistics reveal many new trends in the UK's £50bn electronic communications sector.

Ofcom found that UK consumers spend fifty hours each week using some sort of communications medium, whether this be surfing the internet, using the telephone, watching the television or listening to the radio. Average daily internet use in 2006 was 36 minutes, the report revealed, while the average consumer spends almost four minutes of their day clamped to a mobile phone.

But while these newer technologies have made major usage gains – internet use has increased by 158 percent since 2002 - more traditional media such as television have paid the cost.

Time spent watching the television each week is down by four percent to three hours and 36 minutes. Radio use fell by two percent, while time spent on a landline phone dropped by eight percent.

Fortunately, price drops coincide with this growth in usage. In 2006 the average household spent £92.65 per month on communications, while in 2005 that same family would have spent £94.03

The UK's rapid embracing of unified communications was applauded by Ofcom. Convergence, it said, is "connecting the nation as never before. Consumers can now get live TV over their mobile, radio over their TV and make voice calls on the internet".