Ofcom’s latest European Broadband Scorecard that labelled the UK as having the best broadband of the EU5 has been called into question.
Boris Ivanovic, chairman and founder of FTTH broadband provider Hyperoptic, has highlighted flaws in the report that indicate the UK may not be as well connected as the report suggests.
"The overall conclusion that the UK has the best broadband in Europe is highly questionable as broadband infrastructure in other European countries, especially in Scandinavia, is far superior to ours at the moment," he said.
He also highlighted a disconnect between these average speeds reports, with Ofcom now pitting it at 17.8Mbps while Akamai is measuring at just 9.1Mbps.
"The reason for this is because of the way the data is collated and measured; median and average speeds are confused – just because providers report they are increasing speeds it doesn’t mean that the consumer is able to receive it," he explained.
"For example, many buildings that we have connected with Hyperoptic’s 1 Gbps broadband were on less than 5Mbps beforehand. If these poor speeds are still happening in urban centres then it is hard to believe reports that the UK has the best broadband in Europe: there is a long way to go before we can give ourselves this accolade."
An Ofcom spokesperson told CBR that Ofcom’s conclusion was that the UK now has the best superfast broadband coverage and take-up of the EU’s five largest economies.
"We did not seek to make that conclusion across the whole of Europe," he said.
"We regularly publish data on actual speeds being received by consumers. Our research employs a physical device adjacent to an end user’s computer, allowing us to measure data consistently over a period. We believe the results are extremely robust, and a helpful source of information for consumers making purchasing decisions."
