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Eurostat reports rise in broadband uptake from UK enterprises
Some 87 per cent of British businesses have fixed broadband and 52 per cent have a mobile connection.
Across the 27 EU member states, 95 per cent of enterprises had some form of internet access in January, with fixed broadband penetration standing at 87 per cent - up from 84 per cent in the corresponding month of 2010.
Businesses in the UK were found to be above average for fixed-line internet connectivity, with 92 per cent of firms taking advantage of the technology.
However, while the study recorded a small overall rise in the uptake of this form of internet service, far greater increases were noted for mobile broadband packages.
The share of enterprises with mobile broadband connections grew in all member states between 2010 and 2011, with usage in the UK climbing from 36 per cent to 52 per cent.
Estonia (from nine per cent to 48 per cent), Germany (from 22 per cent to 57 per cent), Greece (from six per cent to 38 per cent) and France (from 28 per cent to 60 per cent) registered the greatest increases.
This surge in mobile broadband uptake chimes with a recent report from Ericsson, which claimed the global number of these connections will rise from 900 million by the end of this year to almost five billion by 2016.
Elsewhere in the Eurostat publication, the organisation revealed more than two-thirds of companies across the EU - including almost four-fifths in Britain - had a website, but less than one in five offered some form of online ordering, booking or reservation facility.
Instead, the majority of enterprises across the continent used their website for information purposes, Eurostat explained.
Some 80 per cent of UK businesses used the internet to obtain details from the websites of public authorities, while 85 per cent submitted forms electronically.