UK lagging behind as creaking broadband network...

02 October 2009, 11:40am

UK lagging behind as creaking broadband network fails to keep up with rival advanced nations

The future competitiveness of the UK in a digital age is in peril after it emerged that the country is languishing in 25th place out of 66 countries in the quality of its broadband network.

The research, carried out by Cisco, the global technology company, found that countries such as Latvia and Bulgaria were better prepared than the UK for next-generation broadband applications. The UK’s broadband network was found to be "meeting needs for today", but lagging behind most European neighbours including Bulgaria and Latvia, a host of Asian countries and the US.

Meanwhile, the study found that technologically-advanced Japan and South Korea were leading the way in terms of overall quality with their broadband systems already rated “ready for tomorrow”. The South Korean government recently promised universal speeds of up to 1Gbps (gigabit per second) by 2012.

Mark Seemann, product strategy and development director at leading communications and hosted IT company Outsourcery, said: “The broadband network of this country is as vital as the nation’s road infrastructure. The rapid adoption of next-generation broadband will enable the nation’s small and medium-sized businesses – which make up about 97 percent of the nation’s economy – to innovate and grow.

“But if the UK continues to lag behind other countries in the state of its broadband architecture – as this survey suggests – the country will be in danger of being left behind in what is rapidly becoming a digital age. This will also be bad for the environment and mean UK consumers are missing out on services which will become the norm in other advanced economies.”

For additional commentary and analysis contact Joe Morgan or Satwant Kaur on 020 7233 7578 or e-mail joe@flamepr.com, Satwant@flamepr.com

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