The UK has jumped four places to third in the world ecommerce league according to the government's annual benchmarking report.

Only Sweden and Ireland show an IT 'sophistication' level higher than the UK but the US and Canada have fallen behind, according to this year's survey by Booz Allen Hamilton on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Sixty-nine per cent of UK businesses now use broadband, a rise of 11 per cent since last year, 31 per cent of small companies are trading online and 73 per cent of businesses provide information to customers using the internet.

Ecommerce minister Mike O'Brien said: 'It is great to see that UK businesses are sprinting forward in the deployment of IT.'

'The increase in the proportion of business connected by broadband shows that UK companies are embracing the opportunities that ICT can bring.

'However we are not at the finishing line yet, and many challenges remain if the UK is reach its aim of becoming a world-leading e-economy,' he said.

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