More than half of Britain's adult population will be using the internet regularly within six months, according to a report released today.

The report, Embracing Technology, produced by online bank Egg and research company Mori, says that around 15m people now have internet access at home and forecasts this will increase to 23m by mid-2001. "We are on the verge of a fundamental shift in attitude to technology and the way that it affects life in the UK," said Egg chief executive Mike Harris.

"By mid-2001 more than 23m people in the UK will be online. Nearly one in three say they would vote via the internet in the next general election.

"While currently only 7% of the population depend on technology for buying goods and only 8% for banking, Mori's findings show this is set to change.

In the next four to five years about 12m (30%) say they would feel comfortable banking on the net and a similar number can envisage themselves buying a mortgage or insurance online.

People's dependence on new technology products is also growing. The report says 14m people believe they cannot live without their mobile phone, 28% feel they are dependent on new technology for keeping in touch with people and gathering information.

Within four to five years about 10m people will depend on new technology for shopping and 14m for banking.

Some 53% of those surveyed said they were dependent on their PCs.

And although 60% of users say they are not dependent on the internet, 55% not dependent on digital TV and 53% are not hooked on email, this could change quickly.

Robert Worcester, chairman of Mori said: "Once we've acquired the mobile or the digital TV, and become comfortable with them, we find that we end up using them for all sorts of extra useful things that we didn't originally anticipate. And over time this greater breadth of use leads to dependency."

There are restrictions, though. The report says that new technology is central to British life, but there are still 29m adults who do not use a PC and 9m say they never will. Nearly 18m people have a PC or laptop for personal use, but as many as 61% of them use it just for word processing.

But, according to Mr Harris, the future is looking good for internet companies.

On average, internet users spend nearly four hours a week accessing the internet at home.

The report, which surveyed over 2,000 people around the country, will be updated every year to keep track of the changing trends, Mr Harris said.