Superfast broadband not available in any British cities

There is not a single superfast broadband-powered city in Britain and the average speed across the region as 14.5Mbps, according to research carried out by USwitch.

The Government's superfast broadband definition is speeds of 24Mbps, but even the fastest connected city in the UK Telford only boasts speeds of 23Mbps.

The Government's blinkered focus on bringing super-fast connections to 95 per cent of Britain by 2017 is all very well but, if they pull it off, it's only half the battle won.

Astonishingly, London offers way below the Government's standards, with average speeds of just 17Mbps. However, one in five broadband users in London get speeds of less than 3Mbps.

Expanding this to the whole of Britain, 27 per cent of British broadband users have speeds under 3Mbps. USwitch - which collected speed test data from 1.4million broadband users in the UK - says the lack of high-speed broadband in rural areas accounts for this shocking result.

The slowest cities in Britain include Hull and Norwich, both with speeds less than 12Mbps.

"Urban speeds in the UK are around three times faster than rural speeds, but even download speeds in Britain's 50 biggest cities still aren't super-fast," said Marie-Louise Abretti, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com.

Abretti went on to explain that the Government is too focused on giving 97 per cent of Britain access to superfast broadband rather than increasing speeds of the network already in place.

"The Government's blinkered focus on bringing super-fast connections to 95 per cent of Britain by 2017 is all very well but, if they pull it off, it's only half the battle won," Abretti added.

"If people don't actually use super-fast broadband because it's too expensive, or they don't know they can get it, then what's the point? Uptake will be heavily dependent on both price and awareness. If you suffer from sluggish broadband, it may be worth checking if you can get superfast fibre. It might not be as expensive to get or as tricky to switch too as you may have feared."

A report released by Ofcom earlier this week showed the majority of UK premises are now covered by superfast broadband, attributing the increase to the Government's roll out of superfast broadband in rural areas.

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.