-Report points to low broadband speeds in UK.

CORPORATE IT UPDATE-(C)1995-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

7 July 2011 -- Some 14% of British household and business broadband users are experiencing download speeds that are much lower than the government's goal on Internet access, the Financial Times reported, citing the results of a recent survey.

The survey conducted by Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, found that at the end of 2010 the download speeds of 14% of broadband users were below 2 Mb/s, the minimum speed that allows the watching of video over the Internet.

Ofcom's survey also showed that subscribers in urban areas had much higher download speeds than those in rural areas. Cities such as London, Bristol and Edinburgh scored well in Ofcom's review, while rural areas such as County Durham, Cumbria and Herefordshire offered the lowest speeds.

The survey is likely to be used by local authorities in their bids for up to GBP830m (USD1.3bn/EUR926m) in public funding for boosting broadband services.

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