Slow progress in high-speed rollout drops UK to 11th in broadband league

UK fifth in total broadband numbers, but per-capita measure shows the gap

UK still nowhere in optical fibre-based broadband league

The UK has been rated just 11th in a league table of broadband access per capita among 30 leading world economies.

The research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows the UK has the fifth highest number of broadband subscribers, behind the US, Japan, Germany and France.

But the UK slips to 11th overall on a scale of broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, partly due to the slow progress of high-speed, fibre-optic connectivity. In the table of broadband by population, Denmark leads the way, followed by The Netherlands and Norway.

For fibre-based broadband, the UK fails to register on the OECD scale. The leaders in fibre-based connections are Japan, South Korea, Sweden and the Slovak Republic, with a penetration of 48, 43, 20 and 19 per cent respectively of their total broadband connections.

UK incumbent BT has vowed to invest £1.5bn in optical fibre rollout, and the UK government is due to announce how upgraded network infrastructure rollouts could impact the UK in its final Digital Britain report, due out next month.

The OECD research argues for policy makers to evaluate the costs and benefits of any public investment in communications infrastructure and to select projects which can stimulate current demand, but also expand the productive capacity of the economy in the longer term.

“All public investments in telecommunications should balance four key items – connectivity, competition, innovation/growth and social benefit,” says the report.

Broadband subscriber numbers in all the OECD countries reached 267 million by December 2008, equivalent to 22.6 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Broadband growth during the second half of the year was slightly stronger at 6.23 per cent, than in the first half at 6.16 per cent.

The UK has 17,275,660 broadband subscribers, which equates to 28.5 per 100 inhabitants, according to the OECD.