UK lags behind on broadband, warns report

The UK is in danger of lagging behind other major economies in the development of broadband networks, according to a report released by infrastructure provider Cisco Systems.

According to the report, the average broadband speed in the UK is just over 4Mbps, slightly under the global average of 4.75Mbps but far short of global leaders Japan and South Korea, which have average broadband speeds of 90Mbps and 40Mbps respectively.

Cisco’s report found that Japan, South Korea, Sweden, Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Denmark were “ready for tomorrow” in terms of their development of broadband infrastructure. The UK failed to make the next grade of “comfortable for today” comprising a further 18 countries. According to the report, the UK falls within its third category of countries whose infrastructure “meets the needs of today”.