UK broadband quality 'not high enough'
12/09/2008
A new study has suggested that the UK is falling behind when it comes to quality of broadband.
The UK's broadband offerings are not good enough to cope with the profusion of rich internet applications that are used today - as well as those to be launched in the future.
This is one of the main findings of a Cisco-sponsored study carried out by the Said Business School at the University of Oxford and the University of Oviedo's department of applied economics.
Japan was deemed to be the country with the best quality internet connections for use with next-generation services and applications, followed by Sweden and the Netherlands.
However, the UK, together with other major nations such as Spain and Italy, were found to be below the global average for broadband quality.
The study's findings were compiled using a Broadband Quality score applied to each of the countries surveyed, internet consultants may be interested to read.
Researchers deemed today's standard web applications to include web surfing, downloading music, social networking and basic video streaming, among others.
Future applications were defined as those including high-definition IPTV and consumer telepresence for communications, healthcare and education.
Fernando Gil de Bernabe of Cisco said: "Without high-quality broadband, we will not be able to take full advantage of the next wave of productivity, collaboration and entertainment that can be gained from the web."
The research comes as the government is mulling over the possibility of launching super-fast broadband networks in the UK.
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