Milton Keynes tops slow mobile broadband league

Mobile broadband

Milton Keynes has been crowned the slowest 3G mobile broadband city in the UK.

It was awarded the less than welcome accolade by mobile and broadband comparison website Top10.com, with Leicester and Huddersfield taking second and third place respectively.

The Buckinghamshire town has an average speed of 1.73Mbps far below the 2.62Mbps UK average making it take about 10 seconds to download a webpage.

It wasn't just the smaller cities that fared badly though. Also in the top ten was Liverpool fifth place with 2.21Mbps and the UK's second biggest city, Birmingham 10th and also below national average with 2.43Mbps.

The study also showed 3G broadband speeds were poorer in the North of England than the rest of the country, with five of the top 10 slowest cities residing in the area.

"Advancements in mobile communications technology will be crucial if Britain hopes to remain a economic force on the world stage and compete in the global marketplace," said Alex Buttle, director of Top10.com.

He added that businesses were growing more and more reliant on mobile broadband and investment into the area was crucial for the future.