London's broadband 'among the slowest in Europe'

Slow progress: London is among the worst performers in Europe for broadband speeds

Joe Murphy @JoeMurphyLondon|Political Editor

17 February 2015

A damning report today warned that London is being held back by cripplingly slow broadband speeds.

Britain’s capital has slumped to 26th place in the league table of European capitals, left behind by rivals like Berlin, Dublin and Vienna.

Downloads took three times as long in London compared with Paris - and were half the speed achieved in isolated Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland.

And London “contrasted drastically” with top-placed Bucharest, the capital of former Communist state Romania, warned a parliamentary select committee.

Committee chair Baroness Morgan told the Evening Standard it was a “call to action”.

“We saw and heard lots of evidence of great entrepreneurship and creativity in London,” she said.

“But we also heard that there is a danger that London is not keeping up with its international competitors.

“We believe that the Internet is important to our future economic success as electricity was in the past.

“And that means superfast broadband too. So this is a call to action to the new government in May.”

The 144-page report by the House of Lords Select Committee on Digital Skills said the UK as a whole was “falling behind in broadband speed”.

It said 10 million UK homes and businesses were unable to access superfast broadband and said data from web speed giant Ookla showed London had dropped four places in the European league table since 2009.

“With an average speed of 25.44 megabits per second (Mbps), London’s score contrasted drastically with Bucharest, which had average speeds of 80.14Mbps,” said the report.

“The data showed London had a speed more than 10Mbps slower than the European average of 36.4Mbps.”

London is also at a shocking 38th place in the top 40 of British cities and towns, according to data from Ookla, behind rivals from Bolton to Bristol, and Preston to Peterborough

Today’s report is the latest in a string of urgent warnings. TV firm Proudfoot told MPs it was sending films by bicycle courier instead as broadband to save time.

Mark Boleat, chairman of policy and resources at the City of London Corporation, warned of “appalling slow broadband” in some areas close to Tech City, the capital’s flagship technology hub.

A spokesperson for Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “The Mayor agrees that more must be done to improve access to superfast broadband in London. He wants every corner of the capital to have access to the best possible digital connectivity.”

The mayor held a summit with major internet companies last summer that led to an advisory group to promote superfast connections across the capital.

London's broadband 'among the slowest in Europe'

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