The Brits are getting broadbandy

The United Kingdom, like the United States, has been looking hungrily at the broadband adoption rates in South Korea and elsewhere, wondering how an advanced country fell so far behind. But a new report from communications regulators Ofcom says things are looking up.

Broadband is now available to more than 88 percent of the British population, the report says. Average Net use has gone from two hours of dial-up in 1999 to 16 hours of broadband time per week this year. More than a third of Internet households there now have broadband, and the number is going up by about 50,000 subscribers a week.