A report by the European Commission casts a very disappointing light on the UK broadband sector after a period of consolidation during June 2009. After this period of consolidation the UK is now dominated by three major ISPs each claiming at least 20% of the market. While overall broadband penetration in the UK is now at around 29.8% the rate of increase was just 1.4% during the first quarter of 2010 which is well below the 2% average for Europe.
In many ways the UK broadband sector has been playing catch-up for some time now although a significant investment in the forthcoming national broadband network by BT should make a very big difference. Quite how the UK government will fund its share of the development of the broadband sector in the future remains to be seen although the BBC licence payer fee would appear to be one option. Whatever happens, the UK government and various UK ISPs have committed themselves to significant investment in the sector over the next decade.
However, UK broadband speeds, as with many others around the world, still trail the likes of the Far East by some distance although hopefully the gap can be reduced in the short to medium term.