Ofcom Charts the Rise in Average UK Broadband Speeds — But Rural Networks Still Crawling

The average UK broadband speed now sits at 17.8Mbps according to the latest study conducted by regulators Ofcom. That’s up more than 3Mbps over the past six months, and a significant rise from the 3.6Mbps average that Ofcom found when it first started studying broadband speeds back in November 2008.

However, speeds still vary wildly from region to region, with rural areas remaining way off the pace when it comes to average broadband speeds. In November 2013, average urban broadband speeds sat at 31.9Mbps, with suburban speeds slower at 21.8Mbps. In rural areas, that average slumps to just 11.3Mbps, with Ofcom attributing the disparity to rural areas’ continued reliance upon copper wire networks while the rest of the country transitions to fibre. In terms of the single fastest ISP, Virgin Media’s ‘up to 120Mbps package came out on top, meeting Ofcom’s requirements that at least 10 per cent of its relevant customer base being able to hit the advertised speeds. Over an average 24-hour period, Virgin Media’s customers can expect to see download speeds hover between 113.2Mbps and 116.7Mbps. [Ofcom]