UK climbs world table in broadband uptake

Survey says UK is improving, but business group says growth is still too weak

Broadband adoption in the UK has outstripped France and risen to 13th place in the world league, according to the latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

South Korea continues to lead with more than one in four inhabitants subscribing to high-speed networks. Second is the Netherlands, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland.

The UK has 13.5 broadband connections per 100 citizens. When the last OECD survey was concluded at the end of 2004, the UK had 10 broadband connections per 100 citizens and was placed 14th. The US and Japan are just ahead with 14.5 and 16.4, respectively.

The UK continues to show one of the strongest per capita growth rates alongside the Netherlands, Finland, Norway and Iceland.

The figures are good news, but are still not good enough, says Jeremy Beale, head of ebusiness at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

‘The proportion still does not correlate to our gross domestic product – 13th place is a long way behind, compared with the UK’s economic position in the world,’ Beale told Computing.

The strong growth is because of the UK’s demand-led strategy, but there are weaknesses in broadband take-up among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that the government needs to address, says Beale.

‘A lot of SMEs have not really been sold a service that is useful to them,’ he said.
‘We need to identify clearly what kind of broadband services would be useful for different kinds of companies in different industries. We will be urging the government to do a lot more in this area, particularly for medium-sized businesses.’

An important area will be the development of standards to ease the transition from traditional supply chain interfaces, such as electronic data interchange, to internet-based networks.

The continuing divide between digital haves and have-nots is also overlooked by the encouraging growth figures, says Jim Norton, senior policy adviser at the Institute of Directors.

‘While the pace of conversion from narrowband to broadband is rocketing, the number of people taking up the internet at all is slowing,’ he said. ‘In worrying about broadband in the UK we have perhaps taken our eye off driving access generally.’