UK falling behind in 2Mbits/sec broadband pledge

 

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By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 28 Jul 2010 at 12:26

The UK has lost ground in the past year in its drive to get 2Mbits/sec broadband across the country, according to Akamai's latest State of the Internet report.

While the UK now has 1.2% more users online than it did this time last year, the report shows a smaller proportion are getting connections above 2Mbits/sec. Over the last quarter, 78% were hitting such speeds, while in the same quarter last year, 80% were averaging over 2Mbits/sec.

The Government has pushed back its deadline to hit the 2Mbits/sec promise by three years to 2015, saying it doesn't have enough money to fund the pledge.

The UK has seen some progress, with 15% seeing speeds of 5Mbits/sec compared with 11% last year. The number of people stuck below 256Kbits/sec held flat at 1.2%.

The Akamai report also ranked the UK as the 14th fastest nation in Europe, with its average broadband speed of 3.8Mbits/sec.

Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt called for the UK to have the best broadband in Europe by the end of this Parliament, but topping first-placed Sweden will require a jump over its current average of 6.2Mbits/sec.

Akamai's European average broadband speed ranking

1. Sweden - 6.181Mbits/sec
2. Netherlands - 5.992Mbits/sec
3. Czech Republic - 5.482Mbits/sec
4. Denmark - 5.330Mbits/sec
5. Switzerland - 5.294Mbits/sec
6. Ireland - 4.968Mbits/sec
7. Norway - 4.951Mbits/sec
8. Belgium - 4.768Mbits/sec
9. Iceland - 4.407Mbits/sec
10. Portugal - 3.983Mbits/sec
11. Finland - 3.936Mbits/sec
12. Germany - 3.877Mbits/sec
13. Austria - 3.818Mbits/sec
14. United Kingdom - 3.812Mbits/sec
15. France - 3.212Mbits/sec
16. Luxembourg - 3.134Mbits/sec
17. Greece - 3.070Mbits/sec
18. Italy - 2.919Mbits/sec
19. Spain - 2.539Mbits/sec