Broadband Britain promotes home-based entrepreneurs

By Andrew Swinton, ZDNet.co.uk, 29 July, 2002 15:42

NEWS

Research commissioned by BTopenworld has found that the Internet has sparked a resurgence among a new breed of home-based Internet entrepreneurs, or "interpreneurs". Fifty-two percent of entrepreneurs feel they couldn't work from home without access to the Internet. Around half (49 percent) of the 335 respondents surveyed said that home-working or teleworking was a lifestyle choice, with the Internet enabling them to share ideas with other people and conduct business while avoiding the drudgery of the of the office and the time and expense of commuting. Around two-thirds (67 percent) of the respondents also stated that the Internet has provided them with new business opportunities. Teleworking in the UK has grown at an average of 13 percent per year and is up to 70 percent higher than five years ago. Commenting on the rise of teleworking, Tony Harris, president of Business Internet Services at BTopenworld, said: "the new business strategists are succeeding where their business dot-com predecessors failed because they are more realistic about the role of the Internet in their businesses. Most are using technology to support their business proposition and complement sales rather than putting the Internet at the core of their business model." Broadband Internet access is playing an important role in facilitating teleworking. One ISP has dropped the price below the £20 a month barrier. More than 13 per cent of those surveyed said they were already using broadband, with a further 19 per cent planning to install a high-speed, always-on connection within the next 12 months. Broadband take-up has doubled in six months. Figures released by Oftel show that at the end of June 2002 a total of 709,000 consumers and small and medium-sized businesses had signed up for a broadband connection. This is an increase of some 113 percent compared to the start of the year, when there were only 332,000 broadband subscribers. Internet-based entrepreneurs in the 16 to 34-year-old age group are leading the transition to broadband, with two-thirds of those surveyed placing it at the top of their shopping list. "The most valuable finding of this survey is proof of how much of a lifestyle enabler the Internet is -- not only in terms of promoting a work-life balance, but also by allowing people to realise their dreams and start their own business," added Harris. "It's especially encouraging to see that broadband has made such an impact so early on in the drive to promote mass market adoption."

See the Broadband News Section for the latest on cable modems, ADSL, satellite and other high-speed access technologies, including a comprehensive guide to the best deals out there. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the Telecoms forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

1 hour ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

11 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

19 hours ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

20 hours ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

21 hours ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

23 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

1 day ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

1 day ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

1 day ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 days ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

2 days ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

2 days ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

2 days ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

2 days ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

2 days ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Broadband Britain promotes home-based entrepreneurs

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Broadband drops below £20 a month barrier

Government urges work-life balance improvements

RIM bundles management tools with Office 365

Microsoft's System Center 2012 gets first release

Red Hat EV3 launches with all-Linux stack

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Systems Management

RIM bundles management tools with Office 365

Red Hat EV3 launches with all-Linux stack

Microsoft kills System Center single-module licence

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

PHP Web Developer - html, css, javascript

Java Developer, Online Gaming, London

Quant Dev, Hedge Fund, FX, Excel VBA

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Infrastructure / Systems Management

Broadband Britain promotes home-based entrepreneurs

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Systems Management

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features