UK beats US in world broadband rankings

Still trailing market leaders South Korea and Finland, says study

South Korea has been ranked as the best country for broadband access

The UK has been ranked 13th out of 30 in a study of broadband performance around the world, two places ahead of the US.

The compared nations were given a composite score based on their penetration rate, average download speed and the lowest price of a monthly access package. The UK's was placed ahead of Luxembourg and Germany but trails Europe's leaders in the sector – Finland, the Netherlands and France.

South Korea topped the list with an adoption rate of 93 per cent, according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a US-based not-for-profit organisation.

The average download speed in the Asian country is 49.5Mbit/s, while the standard cost of access is just $0.37 (19p) for each megabit of connection speed.

UK penetration is now 55 per cent, but the standard broadband connection only handles a download speed of 2.6Mbit/s. And our users pay an average of $1.24 per megabit for their service.

The full rankings can be viewed here.