Britain performing well in Euro tech league

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 5 Aug 2009 at 08:47

Britain is "one of the best performing countries in Europe" when it comes to digital competitiveness, according to a new EU report.

High rates of home and business broadband connectivity have helped push this country near the top of Europe's tech league.

More than seven out of ten British homes are connected to the internet, with 86% of those on broadband connections.

Moreover, Britain has one of the highest rates of DSL coverage, with 99.8% of the population covered. That figure dips to 99.4% in rural areas.

However, there are a couple of familiar black marks on Britain's report card. Only 65.8% of Britain's broadband connections achieve speeds of 2Mbits/sec or above, placing Britain in a lowly 12th in the European league table.

And only a third of the population are accessing government services online, leaving Britain in 10th place across the continent.

Perhaps most worryingly of all, Britain's businesses are failing to take advantage of e-commerce. "Despite the importance of electronic trade, British companies seriously lag behind in terms of the use of eBusiness applications, where it is among the lowest of all Member States," the EU report states.