UK Slipping Behind On Broadband Speeds
The UK is lagging behind when it comes to super-fast broadband, new figures have suggested. So why is the UK slipping behind on broadband speeds?
According to the European Commission’s new Digital Agenda Scoreboard, just 1.1 per cent of UK fixed-line broadband connections are able to deliver 100Mbps or faster.
The report assessed how well EU countries are doing when it comes to meeting targets related to broadband, mobile and e-commerce set out in the EU’s Digital Agenda.
The Commission’s report states, “In terms of the broadband speed targets set by the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE), the UK has one of the smallest shares of lines within the EU at and above 100Mbps.”
It adds, “The penetration of these lines in January 2012 was only 0.02 per cent and below the EU average of 0.4 per cent.”
The Digital Agenda sets targets for more that 50 per cent of households to have access to 100Mbps broadband by 2020. It calls for all households to have at least 30Mbps coverage by that date.
The UK government has set its own internal targets for download speeds of 25Mbps for 90 per cent of households, and a minimum of 2Mbps coverage, by 2015. It is not clear yet how this will be synchronised with targets set by the EU.
The new report also reveals that the UK is even falling behind on lower broadband speeds, with just 1.7 per cent of connections achieving 30-100Mbps, compared to the EU average of 2.4 per cent.
There was a positive for the UK providers in the report, though. It found that 73 per cent of fixed-line broadband services in the UK deliver downloads at 10Mbps or faster. This compares favourably to the average across the study which was just 48.4 per cent.
