U.K. emerging as largest broadband user in Europe

With nearly three-quarters of its online consumers accessing the web via broadband, the U.K. is catching up to the U.S. in the percentage of online consumers on broadband and emerging as the largest broadband country in Western Europe, research firm eMarketer Inc. reports.

56.7% of the entire U.K. population is online, and 73% of online consumers use broadband Internet access, up from a broadband penetration of 46% last year, eMarketer says. “This year’s rapid growth has outpaced even the most optimistic projections made earlier in the year,” eMarketer says.

The U.K. will catch up to the U.S. by 2008, when U.S. broadband penetration is projected to hit 88% of online consumers, eMarketer says.

EMarketer attributed the rapid growth of broadband in the U.K. to a combination of government programs and competition among Internet service providers.