The International Communications Market Report 2014 looked at take-up, availability, price and use of communications services across a number of major countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, the US, China and Japan, and found that the UK had the highest e-commerce spending among the major nations surveyed.

Last year in the UK, consumers paid almost £2,000 on average online for goods. The second-highest market, Australia, spent £1,356 per head. The UK also had the highest proportion of online advertising spending, at 40%.

The report also revealed a sharp dip in the popularity of social networking sites over the last year in the UK: the proportion of consumers accessing traditional social networking sites fell from 65% in September 2013 to 56% in October 2014. This has been attributed to the rise in other social media that does not involve networks of connections, including online video sites and instant messaging. Social networks remain the most popular internet activity for smartphone users.