The UK is above the European average when it comes to fixed-line broadband take-up, new figures from the EU have revealed.

Published as part of the European Commission's (EC's) digital agenda, the statistics show the UK has 31.6 fixed broadband connections per 100 people - five more than the average figure recorded across the 27 member states.

According to the study, 99.3 per cent of the country's landline broadband services offer speeds of at least 2Mbps, compared to the EU-wide figure of 86.7 per cent.

Between 2007 and 2010, the number of UK lines with speeds of greater than or equal to 10Mbps has risen from zero to 44.8 per cent.

Over the same period, the European average has increased from 8.8 per cent to 38.9 per cent.

Almost two-thirds of Brits are frequent internet users, while just over half of consumers across the continent go online every day or almost that often.

And only one in eight people in the UK has never accessed the web, compared to one in four of all European citizens.

Unveiling the publication, entitled the Digital Agenda Scoreboard, vice president of the EC for the digital agenda Neelie Kroes noted ten million households in the 27 countries are still out of reach of broadband infrastructure.

Ms Kroes said policymakers and network operators will need to "get creative" to bring the technology to these properties, by adopting technologies such as satellite or terrestrial wireless networks.

She explained: "They can be the most cost-effective [methods] in such areas where more common, landline solutions are not an option."

Under the EC's plans for the digital agenda, basic broadband must be available to 100 per cent of people in Europe by 2013.

"The benefits of the internet must be spread to include everyone," Ms Kroes remarked.

"We cannot leave some parts of society out of the digital revolution, stuck in the dial-up Dark Ages, cut off altogether from these opportunities." 

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