New homeowners in the UK think having broadband is more of a priority than having water or gas, a new Vodafone survey has found.
Electricity was the top utility respondents cited, followed by broadband, water, gas and council tax.
One in five said broadband would be their top priority when moving into a new property, with two-thirds claiming to have rejected buying a house due to poor broadband service.
The survey, which polled 2,000 people, comes after the launch of Vodafone’s first fixed broadband service in the UK last year.
The offering, which first launched last June to existing customers, was expanded to 22 million premises at the end of last year.
The company had just 89,000 such customers at the end of December 2015, which means it lags far behind rivals BT, Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Sky.
Vodafone is due to unveil a TV service to boost the appeal of the broadband offering in the next few months.
It launched a TV offering in Ireland in January this year.
Glafkos Persianis, Vodafone UK’s Commercial Director, said: “Today, fast and efficient broadband at home is more of a priority than ever and this is demonstrated by the importance that people put on their internet when they first move in to their new homes.”