When the near five per cent of people in the UK who still have dial-up internet convert to broadband, an estimated extra £1.4 billion could be generated within a year by purchases made via the internet.

The claim is being made by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, in light of UK government plans come to ensure that, within the next two years, every home has access to 2Mbps broadband.

Says the IPA: “This figure is based on extrapolations from existing statistics by the Office of National Statistics. These show that while there were website sales totalling £104.7 billion in 2008, 4.9 per cent of UK internet users were still relying on slow dialup connections.”

Adds the IPA, research reveals that people with a high-speed internet connection are 36.9 per cent more likely to make an online purchase than those with low speed internet.