E-commerce sales rise as ICT industry grows

There was a rise of 2.1 per cent in the number of e-commerce sales in 2008 compared to the previous year as the information and communications technology sector grew, says a new report.

According to the government report, the value of e-commerce sales between 2007 and 2008 increased by nearly 37 per cent, while half a million additional businesspeople had access to the internet at work in 2008 than in the previous year.

The increase in the number of UK businesses providing access to the internet could mean more employees are able to communicate with each other using VoIP solutions.

Andy Cordial, managing director at Origin Storage, said: "The amount of electronic data that is within any corporate today is ten times the amount that was there even five or six years ago, so the biggest driver is the amount of electronic data in the world".

There was a 1.2 per cent rise in the number of businesses using the internet between 2007 and 2008, according to the government report.