43% of "unwired" adults happy to stay that way

11 Jun 2009 | 18.26 Europe/London

Not everyone without broadband will take it up - even if it's offered to them for free. That's according to new research from communications regulator Ofcom, which says over forty per cent of "disconnected" adults would be happy to stay that way.

Seventeen million people in the UK are currently offline. Among them, OfCom's been able to identify two main groups of disconnected people: those who don't have Internet access for financial reasons, and those who are "self-excluded." Perhaps unsurprisingly, those that fall within the "self-excluded" group tended to be people who were older or retired.

Here's a breakdown of Ofcom's findings:

42% of adults said they have no interest or need for the Internet

61% of this "self-excluded" group said they had never used a computer

30% of those currently offline cited the main reason as being either financial or to do with lack of skills

20% of offline Britons said they planned to get some sort of Internet connection in the next six months

81% said cheaper deals didn't work as an incentive to get them online

While The Register has mocked the report as stating the "bleeding obvious" by pointing out that a lot of people without Internet access either can't want it or can't afford it, it shouldn't be discounted completely. Statistical evidence of a "self-excluded" group could show politicians that broadband provision for all - which January's interim Digital Britain report was famously committed towards - might not mean broadband participation for all. "Broadband is becoming increasingly important to people's ability to participate in the economy and society," said Peter Phillips, Ofcom's market development partner. "The report shows that some creativity will be required if we wish to capture the imaginations of those who have yet to engage with the benefits the internet may bring."

Whether they want Internet access or not, some see those without the web as underprivileged by default. Helen Milner, the managing director of UK Online Centres, says for instance that those without Internet access are a class unto themselves: the "unwired class," unable to access online discounts and services. And, of course, Internet access is now as important to our lives as running water and electricity - a fact that was brought into being by the Communications Consumer Panel, if you're sick of reading it and want someone to blame (it's not going to go away for quite some time).

While "broadband for all" is certainly a popular banner to stand under at the moment, it seems not everyone wants liberalism to be the politics of a digital Britain. The Independent's been taking more of a social Darwinist tact, with its columnist Andrew Keen issuing the following rallying cry:

Computers today often cost less than televisions and broadband access is about the same price as cable. Many mobile phones are mini computers. Many libraries, schools, cafés, community centres and even churches have online computers. The digital future is yours. But only the networked will survive.

Which seems to miss the point altogether in the instance of people who can't afford broadband access (you can't really see them owning Blackberrys can you?) and completely ignore the current consensus on the importance of broadband to people's lives. If Internet access is as important as running water (thank you Communications Consumer Panel) then why even have a toilet in your house when libraries, schools, cafés and community centres have them? But perhaps we shouldn't be surprised either that a newspaper isn't desperate to get more people online - printed periodicals have few enough readers as it is.

Further details at [BBC News]