Study Brands UK Broadband Among The Slowest in the EU

According to a new study, internet users in Britain are enduring some of the slowest broadband speeds in the EU, putting them below Slovakia, Hungary, Germany and Poland for high speed internet connections.

Researchers from independent think tank the Information Technology Innovation Foundation composed a league table containing 23 countries in the EU, with only six other nations proving to have slower internet connections than the UK.

The ITIF has issued a warning saying that unless the government spends copious amounts of money on improving net infrastructure, it could mean big trouble for the British economy.

With a speed of 8mbps a song can download from the net in roughly five seconds. Britain is currently coping with an average of 2.6 mbps, compared to Slovakia’s 2.8 mbps.

Britons are also paying more for their slower broadband than even the top countries in the league table. The average Briton pays £5.50 per month for their 2.6 mbps while the average person in Finland pays just £2.54 for a connection speed of 21.7mbps.

Jason Lloyd, the head of broadband at MoneySupermarket.com blames the bad broadband on the almost obsolete copper wires that Britain use when other countries have invested in fibre-optic technology.

The Telegraph Online