UK Gaining Ground In Broadband Arena

An official report from the telecoms regulator, Oftel has revealed that UK consumers are taking up broadband services at a faster rate than users in key markets such as France, Germany, Sweden and the United States.

According to the International Benchmarking Study Of Internet Access, UK broadband connections have now reached 28,000 a week as businesses and homeowners acknowledge the benefits of high-speed internet access and are able to benefit from falling prices and improving services.

“This research shows that consumers continue to benefit from the action taken by Oftel to promote competition,” said David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications.

The UK was initially slow to roll-out broadband technology and only recently did the number of subscribers pass the one million mark. By comparison, France has more than 1.5 million users and Germany has in excess of 3 million.

However, Oftel has found that residential broadband in the UK is now as cheap as in other developed countries. DSL prices have fallen by more than a quarter since February and cable modem continues to offer good value for money. Business rates for basic broadband services are also cheaper than in other countries surveyed, notably the US and Sweden.

“The UK broadband market benefits from competition between the network suppliers, BT and the cable companies,” said Edmonds. “There is also a flourishing level of competition between service providers which means UK consumers have a choice of around 200 DSL providers, and cable modems.”

The UK government is committed to making the UK the leading G7 broadband country by 2005 and Prime Minister Tony Blair recently pledged to invest more than £1 billion in networking public services throughout the country.