A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has confirmed that the UK is placed 21st out of 30 countries in the OECD with regards to broadband speed. While there’s no doubt that the UK government and broadband industry as a whole is working hard behind the scenes to improve UK broadband accessibility and UK broadband speeds, is the limited investment in fibre-optic networks impacting upon the UK economy?
The report by the OECD seems to confirm that limited investment into fibre-optic networks does impact upon national economies. The broadband industry has grown extensively over the last decade although unfortunately it is taken the UK authorities a little while to put together a programme of investment into fibre-optic networks. While the ongoing British Telecom broadband network is almost certainly set to change the face of the UK broadband industry it will take time and money to complete. There are also concerns that the UK could fall further behind other OECD members in the short to medium term.
We very much take the broadband industry for granted in the UK and often only consider the broadband industry with regards to personal use. However, it is worth noting that the Internet has opened up markets around the world which would, prior to the Internet, have been inaccessible.