Britons are more willing to cut back on holidays and meals out in the recession than on spending on communication technology, an Ofcom review suggests.

Ofcom的调查显示，经济衰退时期，不列颠人在假日和饮食上的花费比通讯技术上的花费减少。

The number of people watching catch-up television online is also growing

The watchdog's annual report says spending on mobiles, the internet and TV is regarded as a higher priority than almost anything except food.

It also highlights the massive increase in social networking on the internet.

Some 19m people, 50% of internet users, visit Facebook, spending an average of six hours a month on the site, it says.

This is an increase from four hours in May 2008.

Ofcom researchers asked consumers where they were most likely to be cutting back on spending during the recession, as part of its communications market report.

Of those asked, 47% would choose to cut back on going out for dinner, 41% on DIY and 41% on holidays, the review said.

This compared with 19% who would cut back on mobile phone spending, 16% on TV subscriptions¹（捐献，定金） and 10% on their broadband services.

Reduced prices

The report said the trend was supported by the fact communications were costing less, with longer, cheaper mobile phone contracts and the bundling of services such as television and internet at reduced prices.

In May 2009, consumers spent an average of 25 minutes a day online at home - up from nine minutes in 2004.

But average household spending on internet services fell in real terms from £11.37 in 2007 to £10.71 in 2008.

Meanwhile, a growing number of TV viewers are using digital video recorders or catch-up services on TV and online to control their viewing, Ofcom said.

Nearly a quarter of households, 23%, were watching catch-up TV online in 2008, compared with 17% in 2007.

Online catch-up TV has been driven significantly by the BBC iPlayer, with 15% of internet users, 5.2 million, watching the service, double the figure of this time last year.

Overall take up of broadband reached 68% of households by the end of the first quarter of 2009, up from 58% on the previous year - an increase of 17%, Ofcom said.

Many more consumers are taking up mobile broadband. In May of this year alone there were more than 250,000 new mobile broadband connections, up from 139,000 new connections in May 2008.