The key motivator was a jump in superfast mobile broadband subscriptions, the regulator said.

A third of the people said they turned to a smartphone first to browse the Internet, access social media or shop online, while 30 percent opened up a laptop, Ofcom said. A year ago, 40 percent preferred to use a laptop and 22 percent a smartphone.

People are spending more time attached to their mobile, using the devices for 1 hour and 54 minutes every day on average, it said, and a third of users turn to their smartphone within five minutes of waking up.

Ofcom said Britain had seen a rapid take-up in superfast mobile broadband in the last year, with an eight-fold increase in subscriptions to 23.6 million.

TV is still popular, despite the UK Tory government's attempts to cut it back. People watch on average 3 hours 40 minutes of broadcast TV a day, 11 minutes less than a year ago, Ofcom said.