British online retailers could benefit by £740m a year as superfast broadband rolls out across Britain, according to research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR.)
The Government plans to deliver high speed broadband to 95 per cent of the UK by 2017 and is investing £1.7bn into the new services.
A report commissioned by Royal Mail found that British shoppers on faster connections spend 3.1 per cent more, or £23 a year than shoppers with slower connections. British consumers now spend 1 hour 8 minutes every day using the internet with internet shopping rising by around 17 per cent this year.
The recently appointed digital minister Ed Vaisey told the Financial Times: “People want as good coverage as possible. We are looking at whether we can introduce a system of national roaming to address…mobile ‘not-spots.”
Royal Mail managing director Nick Landon hailed the plans and said: “Superfast broadband is acting as a catalyst, encouraging people to spend more online and the further roll-out of networks across Britain over the coming years can only benefit the online retailing market.”
