by Dan Worth , 

 18th July 2012,  V3.co.uk

Only seven per cent of internet connections in the UK are being used for superfast broadband services despite high-speed connections being available to 60 per cent of premises in the UK.

The figures, from Ofcom's Communications Market Report 2012, suggest that despite the government's push for 90 per cent of the population to have access to superfast services by 2015, there is meagre demand for such capabilities.

This will make for disconcerting reading in government as it ploughs millions of pounds into the funding of networks in remote regions to ensure all areas of the country can access good broadband services, setting aside £830m for this purpose in 2010.

However, while superfast broadband demand is stagnating, the clamour for smartphones and tablets continues unabated.

A total of 39 per cent of UK adults now own a smartphone, up 12 per cent on the previous year, with email and internet access the key uses of the devices according to Ofcom's research.

Tablets, meanwhile, continue their assault on the home market, with over 10 per cent of households owning a device by the first quarter of 2012, up from just two per cent in the first quarter of 2011.

The rise in smartphone use has coincided with an increase in mobile phone calls, with half of all calls in the UK, 52 per cent, now made on mobile phones, rather than landlines.

This has also come as the cost of mobile calls has fallen to the same levels as fixed lines for the first time.