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UK falling behind in 2Mbits/sec broadband pledge

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

Sweden - 6.181Mbits/sec

Netherlands - 5.992Mbits/sec

Czech Republic - 5.482Mbits/sec

Denmark - 5.330Mbits/sec

Switzerland - 5.294Mbits/sec

Ireland - 4.968Mbits/sec

Norway - 4.951Mbits/sec

Belgium - 4.768Mbits/sec

Iceland - 4.407Mbits/sec

Portugal - 3.983Mbits/sec

Finland - 3.936Mbits/sec

Germany - 3.877Mbits/sec

Austria - 3.818Mbits/sec

United Kingdom - 3.812Mbits/sec

France - 3.212Mbits/sec

Luxembourg - 3.134Mbits/sec

Greece - 3.070Mbits/sec

Italy - 2.919Mbits/sec

Spain - 2.539Mbits/sec

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User comments

Small wealthier countries are faster?

And larger and poorer countries finish last?

Didn't see that coming.

By cheysuli on 28 Jul 2010

Based on what?

Just out of interest, how do Akamai arrive at these figures?

We know that Ofcoms headlines yesterday were derived from the SamKnows surveys where modified routers are installed in users homes to monitor their connections. So where, what and how do Akamai aquire raw data to backup their report.

By chapelgarth on 28 Jul 2010

So the Government want the best broadband by 2015 (end of this parliament) but have put back the funding till 2015 because they have no money. So they are just passing the buck to the next parliament.

By Amnesia10 on 28 Jul 2010

Broadband speed

I doubt my speed will get any better unless I move house. It is faster than dial-up and only takes 11 - 12 hrs to download the latest Linux distro so mustn't complain ;)

By linux1943 on 30 Jul 2010

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