Archive for category Latest Broadband News
UK Broadband 42% Slower than Advertised Says the Guardian
Posted by Dai in Latest Broadband News on May 15, 2012
According to a recent survey conducted by the Guardian newspaper, residents of the United Kingdom are receiving internet speeds as much as 42% slower than advertised.
Over three days as many as 3,000 readers took part in the Guardian’s survey of internet speeds and they indicated a vast shortfall between advertised and received internet speeds. Although many areas seem to have been enjoying the speeds advertised, many more have be languishing with half the speeds advertised and others have suffered from complete black spots. Meaning that, at a time when the possibilities of broadband are being realised and super-fast speeds are being promised, many customers are feeling severely short-changed.
The survey found that, on average, customers were paying for 12 Megabits per second but were, in reality only receiving and average of 7Mbps, constituting a gap of 42%.
Contributors to the survey also complained about major black spots in city centres as well as stretches of exposed and decrepit copper wiring that would stop working in the rain. Some businesses even reported having to move in order to chase faster internet speeds.
The survey found that TalkTalk and Sky had a shortfall of 60%; Sky customers had been promised an average of 12Mbps but were receiving on average 4.8Mbps. This is the widest gap between promised and actual services and has been described by Hugh Colvin to be like “buying a dozen apples and you got three.”
Virgin customers were found to be receiving a 41% shortfall from a promise of 30Mbps to actually getting 17.7Mbps. It was BT who limped to the head of the pack with the smallest shortfall of 27%, providing only 6Mbps after promising 8Mbps. It may be little consolation to BT customers however.
Advertising rules were recently tightened up by Ofcom following their own study of broadband speeds. They ordered companies could only advertise a speed as “up to” and only if that speed was available to at least 10% of their customers. Even some broadband providers criticised this threshold as being too low, trends are increasing now for providers to negotiate individual deals.
Providers have tried to defend themselves, promoting continuing improvements to their services and calling for more defined rules regarding advertising. But even if service providers do begin advertising exact speed quotes it won’t change the overall slow speeds across the nation. Broadband is becoming an essential resource for business and work, online industry has grown larger than the both the health and education sectors, if people can’t receive the fastest internet speeds they will fall behind.
The Guardian’s survey highlighted whole regions suffering from low speeds which, if it continues, could create a serious new divide between customers who have high-speed internet, and those that do not.
BT sees profits rise, despite a fall in overall sales
Posted by Hollie in Latest Broadband News on May 12, 2012
BT has announced a rise in their first quarter profits, despite a fall in actual overall sales. The company saw a significant boost to their earnings back in March of last year, which saw them able to reach a deal allowing them to pay off a substantial portion of their staff pension deficit fund far earlier than was initially expected.
In paying off £2 billion of the £4.1 billion deficit (one of the largest single pension payments made by a company), they were able to alleviate a great concern, which had worried investors for some time.
Ian Livingstone, chief executive had this to say: “In what remains a challenging environment we have delivered another year of growth in profits and free cash flow.” BT stated that they have now been able to roll out fibre optic broadband to an estimated 10 million homes and businesses across Britain, and this has all been achieved many months ahead of schedule.
Unsurprisingly the profit generated from landline calls fell, as people increasingly come to rely upon their smartphones and the free service Skype. However, there has been a strong demand for their fastest broadband to date, BT Infinity, with a reported 131,000 customers having signed up to the service in the last quarter of 2011 (Infinity broadband reviews have been overwhelmingly positive thus far). This, along with their global services divisions, which is finding growing success in Asia and Latin America, has caused analysts to speculate whether this would allow the company to significantly increase its dividend over the coming months.
Due to BT being able to pay off a significant portion of their pension fund – which saw them reap gains through interest – combined with a large tax credit, the telecom company not only saw profits rise, they were also able to make far larger payouts to their shareholders. These one-off gains were estimated at a staggering £166 million.
These lucrative earnings have restored much confidence in the company from its major investors and shareholders, who had been understandably somewhat perturbed by the warnings back in 2008/2009, incited by reports that BT was fumbling its management of its aforementioned global services division.
British Broadband Behind Belgium
Posted by Dai in Latest Broadband News on May 8, 2012
Despite the online economy being bigger than health, education and construction, Britain’s broadband could be falling behind those of Europe, languishing at 16th place in European download speeds.
The news has come after a report from international communications technology analysts Akamai that studied download speeds and measured the rates of super- fast broadband across the globe. Their findings placed the United Kingdom as only the 16th fastest broadband nation in Europe, regardless of the even greater dominance seen by ultra- fast technologies in far eastern nations like Japan and South Korea.
This means Britain’s download speeds are behind a plethora of our neighbours including Belgium.
Peter Cochraine, former BT Chief Technology Officer has warned that this could risk Britain being left behind in the next digital industrial revolution.
The pitiful level of super- fast networks in the UK can be seen when considering Russia already have 12 million homes linked to fibre broadband, France have 6 million and are all promising much more in the future. Meanwhile Britain only have 400,000 homes linked to high speed networks.
The government has promised a drive to provide Britain with one of the fastest broadband networks in the world by 2015, and to have 90% of homes connected to super- fast speeds by 2017.
Whether these aims are achievable however is yet to be seen, if the British government were to match China’s investment per head of population towards broadband speeds then they would be investing £7 billion. In comparison there is currently only £1.3 billion set aside from the central government funds to invest in broadband.
It is hoped that private investment will fill the funding gap. BT are expected to cover as much as two thirds of the work themselves and further investment may come from other telecommunications companies eager to provide more services. The government have expressed hopes that they will be able to meet their targets for Britain’s broadband speeds and claim that their aim to ensure every home has access to at least a minimum of 2Mbps is on track.
As online business has become one of the largest sectors of the UK economy it would seem essential to get broadband speeds as fast as possible. Against the climate of recession in other sectors online industry could be an essential lifeline for the economies of Europe and potentially a new business revolution, if Britain wants to keep up they will need to stay at the forefront.