UK ethnic minority groups embrace new tech

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Ethnic minority groups are making high tech gadgets and technology a central part of their lives, while other Brits are slower on take up

 Consumers from ethnic minority groups are among the keenest in Britain when it comes to embracing the latest technology, new research from UK regulator, Ofcom reveals. Not only do people from ethnic minority groups say they love gadgets more than the British population as a whole (37% compared to 30% respectively), they are also more likely to say it is important that their homes are equipped with the latest technology (32% compared to 20%). This rises to almost a half (47%) of those in the 'Asian Indian' group. Ethnic minority groups are also more likely to have home broadband and a mobile phone, although they are less likely to watch TV and listen to the radio, compared to the British population as a whole. Mobile phones are generally more important to people in ethnic minority groups than the wider British population. More than half of the Mixed Ethnic (57%), Asian Pakistani (58%), Asian Bangladeshi (57%), Black African (56%) and Asian Indian (54%) groups say they could not do without their mobile phones, compared with 43% of the British population.

In the Asian Bangladeshi group, one in five (20%) claims to have at least five mobile phones in their households, compared with 5% of the British population.

Ethnic minority groups also tend to spend more money per month on their mobile phones. Among the Black Caribbean and Black African groups, three in ten (30%) say they spend over £30 a month on average, compared to 16% of the British population.

Most ethnic minority groups are more likely to have a broadband connection at home, particularly among the Asian Indian group (82% compared with 71% of the British population).

They are also more likely to use the internet to download music, especially among mixed ethnic groups (45% compared with 26% of the British population).

People in the Black African group said they were the most computer-savvy, with two thirds (62%) disagreeing with the statement that computers confuse them. This compares to 53% of the British population.  TV and radio consumption varies widely across the different ethnic minority groups. Those in the Asian Indian group are less likely to own a TV and watch TV than the British population as a whole. Altogether, 82% of Asian Indian people say they own a TV and 93% say that they watch TV, compared with 96% and 99% of the British population respectively. Across all ethnic minority groups included in the research, a smaller proportion say they have a TV at home compared to the British population as a whole (90% compared to 96%). Half of those in the Asian Bangladeshi group (50%) have just one TV in their home, compared with a quarter (26%) of the British population. One in five (19%) of those in the Black Caribbean group watch more than 40 hours of TV a week, compared with 15% of the British population. A quarter (26%) of the British population say that watching TV is their favourite pastime, much lower than the Asian Pakistani group (41%), Asian Indians (40%) and Asian Bangladeshis (38%).  More than a third of the Asian Bangladeshi and Asian Pakistani groups (36% and 35% respectively) and 30% of the Asian Indian group say that they rely on TV to keep them informed. This compares with a British average of 25%.

Larger proportions of ethnic minority groups view TV on demand on their computers and mobile phones. While fewer than one in five (18%) of the British population had used a computer to view TV on demand, as many as a quarter (25%) of the Asian Bangladeshi group said that they viewed TV in this way.

Listening to the radio is generally less popular among ethnic minority groups, with 40% of Asian Bangladeshis tuning in weekly, compared with 79% of the British population.  A third (30%) of adults in the British population say they have a DAB radio at home, compared with 7% of those in the Asian Bangladeshi group. Ofcom's research, which supports its duty to have regard to the different ethnic communities within the UK, gives an overview of use of and attitudes towards communications services among ethnic minority groups in Britain.

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