A number of tests over the last few months seem to indicate that the average download speed in the UK broadband market has fallen to 3.3 Mb per second which is a 10% fall on the high reached in July. There are two trains of thought for this apparent fall in speeds, one being that some UK broadband providers may be the postponing vital technology replacement projects in the light of the current economic downturn, or the more likely reason i.e. increased use across the whole of the UK.
It is no secret that the UK broadband delivery network is literally being pushed to the limit by ever-increasing use throughout the UK and it is this increase in activity which looks to have slowed the system slightly. Over time we should see improvements taking overall although in the short term we may see some Internet service providers cap customer download allowances.
The UK is calling out for the planned new fibre-optic broadband network which has been mentioned in passing for a decade. OFCOM is currently in talks with British Telecom about the substantial funding required for such a network which is vital to the UK sector going forward and must be put in place now!