UK broadband supply lags behind world leaders
Broadband speeds in the UK are well behind the countries with the fastest internet speeds, according to a new report.
New data from the Ookla Speedtest shows that the UK's speeds are just the 30th fastest in the world at 30.6Mbps. Singapore was revealed to have the fastest average internet speeds on the planet at 111.2Mbps, followed by Hong Kong (102Mbps) and South Korea (71.36Mbps).
Speeds in London were also shown to be lagging behind major world capital cities, with the rest of the UK even moving ahead of the city. Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow were all proven to have faster broadband speeds than the capital. Lancaster, which achieves speeds of 86.43Mbps, has the fastest average speeds in the UK.
Next-generation access (NGA) broadband solutions within postcodes containing archaic copper Exchange Online Lines was revealed by the report to be just 48 per cent.
"NGA coverage is particularly low in four inner-London boroughs: the City of London, Westminster, Tower Hamlets and Southwark," the report said.
"Low coverage relates to the high number of EOLs in these boroughs and limited cable rollout. The problem is pronounced in the City of London, due to the lack of street cabinets."
Then-culture secretary Jeremy Hunt pledged in 2012 that the UK would have the fastest broadband of any major European country by 2015, but the new data suggests that this target has been missed by a long distance.
Superfast broadband coverage was also revealed to be significantly lower in rural areas, with only 22 per cent of businesses and households in rural locations able to access superfast speeds.
The government has stated that its goal is to push broadband with speeds over 24Mbps to 95 per cent of premises by 2017. Chancellor George Osborne has also announced plans to introduce a universal service obligation for broadband in the UK.
Businesses looking to move services into the cloud should evaluate the performance of their existing network and consider setting up a leased line or MPLS network.
