UK broadband speed slower than most of Europe

Average broadband speed in the UK is slower than in most European countries including Germany, Spain and Sweden, while Singapore has the best service, a report revealed on Tuesday.

The report has found that across the UK the average broadband download speed is 16.5Mbps, at which it takes about an hour to download a lengthy Hollywood film such as the "Lord of the Rings", reports the Guardian.

The report, which examined global data from 63m speed tests over the course of a year, was put together by open internet measurement firm M-Lab, a consortium of partners, including New America's Open Technology Institute, Google Open Source Research and Princeton University's Planet Lab.

The average speed in the UK is less than a third of Singapore's, which tops the global league table measuring broadband in 189 countries, where it takes an average of 18 minutes to download a 7.5Gb film.

The UK falls well short of the average speeds enjoyed by European countries including Germany (18.8Mbps), Spain (19.6Mbps), Sweden (40Mbps) and Hungary (23Mbps).

Outside Europe, the UK is bettered by nations including the US (20Mbps), Canada (18Mbps) and New Zealand (16.6Mbps), the report said.

Overall, the UK lags behind 19 European countries, 17 of them in the European Union, the Guardian quoted the report as saying.

Major European countries that fared worse than the UK include France, which ranked 37th, and Italy at 46th.

Twenty of the top 30 fastest-performing countries are in Europe, and 17 of the slowest-performing 30 countries are located in Africa.

--IANS

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