UK government wants 90% of country to have 25 Mbps broadband by 2015

The UK government has set some lofty goals for expanding broadband availability: Get 90 percent of the population connected to at least 25 Mbps speeds by 2015.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK's culture secretary proclaimed during a speech at this week's Race Online 2012 that broadband investment will make it a more competitive threat with other broadband enabled countries like Korea.

"If we press ahead with expansion of superfast capabilities we can put the UK in the global fast lane," he said. "If we fail to do so we apply a handbrake to growth precisely when we need to power ahead."

To achieve this goal, the government said it provide $858.4 million to ensure hard to reach areas can get broadband access.

Of course, part of this goal will be fulfilled by BT's ongoing FTTX drive that the incumbent claims will reach two-thirds of the UK population by 2015. BT's drive is being complemented by efforts by competitive providers such as Virgin and a possible new open access Fiber to the Home project being driven by a Fujitsu-led consortium.  

But the UK has its work cut out for themselves to reach its lofty goals.

According to Akamai's State of the Internet report, the UK's average broadband speed clocks in at only 4.4 Mbps. Only the city of Bradford, which offers 6 Mbps broadband service, had the fastest average broadband speed in the UK, putting it into the 99th fastest spot in world.

For more:
- v3 UK has this article

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