UK broadband speeds among the slowest in Europe
The UK has tumbled further down the global broadband speed rankings to rate as one of the slowest countries in Europe.
In an annual study of the average broadband speeds of 221 countries and territories, the UK dropped 13 places to rank 47th fastest in the world. Last year Britain placed 34th for average broadband speed.
The top of the table is dominated by Europe – of the top 50 countries, 32 of them are on the continent.
The UK is lagging behind its European peers, with just over 10 per cent of UK households having access to the high speed fibre broadband, according to Ofcom. This compares to more than 80 per cent in many other developed countries.
This means UK consumers have to wait almost twice as long to download a film. With the average broadband speed in the UK less than half that of the western European average, UK consumers will have to wait, on average, 18 minutes to download a 5GB film.
In Lichtenstein, which boasts the fastest broadband speed in the world, customers have to wait just under three minutes to download a film.
Among the countries that have overtaken the UK are smaller, including Malta, Puerto Rico and Romania, which can roll out comprehensive coverage much quicker.
The speed of broadband has broadly risen year-on-year but there is a stark difference between the best and worst performing countries. The top 100 countries have gained 28.61 Mbps while the bottom 100 have gained an average of 1.54Mbps.
One of Boris Johnson’s first priorities when elected prime minister last December, and a key part of his “levelling up” agenda, was addressing the UK’s broadband network.
He wants a complete “gigabit speed” network, whioch combines full fibre and other technology used in Virgin Media’s cable and broadband network, by 2025. He also pledged £5bn to ensure services reached the most remote parts of the UK.