Investigating the Socio-economic Characteristics of Residential Consumers of Broadband in the UK

Government and industry are all aiming to obtain online products and services. For this, the role of broadband is pertinent. Using this as the motivation for this research, the aim of this study was to empirically examine the socio-demographic attributes of the residential (household) consumers of broadband technologies in a local community (the London Borough of Hillingdon) in the UK. The study was conducted using a postal survey. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 700 households and a total of 172 completed questionnaires obtained from the respondents. The results of this research found that the adoption of broadband is reducing as the variable of age is considered. The adopters are more males then the females one and the consumers’ educational attainment and income individually did not illustrate any trends. This study concludes that although the socio-demographic attributes such as education and income may not illustrate a clear pattern, a combination of two or more attributes could be helpful. The gradual adoption of broadband by the consumers is not only an industry concern, but a government aim as well. Therefore this research should offer a substantial contribution to all the interested stakeholders including the ISPs and government agencies who may want to differentiate the adopters and non-adopters.