By Gemma Simpson
Friday, December 01 2006 11:38 AM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/internet/0,39044908,61971519,00.htm

The United Kingdom has been slow to adopt new services such as voice over IP (VoIP) and IPTV compared to other countries, research from telecoms watchdog Ofcom reveals.

Only 0.4 percent of U.K. consumers subscribe to either IPTV or VoIP, making Brits among the slowest to catch on to the new telecoms services when compared to other industrialized countries included in the Ofcom report.

When it comes to logging on to watch TV, China leads the way.

More than three-quarters of Chinese broadband users have watched downloadable or streaming music video clips and 70 percent watch TV over broadband, despite only 12 percent of Chinese homes having broadband.

Japan came second with 45 percent of people watching TV over broadband, compared with 37 percent in Italy and the United States.

The United Kingdom came in second to last with just over a third of U.K. users having watched TV via broadband, compared with only 27 percent for last-place France.

Nearly a third of the survey's respondents said going online had prompted them to watch less television by traditional means.

Ofcom fell silent earlier this month on proposed regulations for the United Kingdom's burgeoning Internet telephony industry.

The Ofcom International Communications Market Report compared consumer attitudes to new telecoms services and industry performance in the United Kingdom with China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United States.

Gemma Simpson of Silicon.com reported from London.