The city of London can proudly gloat that it facilitated the fastest ever broadband speed connections.

But the efforts between BT and French networking company Alcatel-Lucent may be in vain, according to Ernst & Young.

The impressive speed of 1.4 terabit per second reached in the test, the equivalent of sending 44 uncompressed HD films in one second, will mean nothing unless customers are willing to pay for the upgrade.

"While this is an exciting development, the reality is that we have yet to see appetite for these kinds of speeds from either consumers or businesses. Although 1.4 terabit per second capability suggests that telecoms providers can future proof their infrastructure – saving on costly upgrades – customer appetite – and willingness to pay – for ever-faster speeds has yet to materialise," said Adrian Baschnonga, lead analyst at Ernst &Young.

Considering 39% of consumers don’t even know the maximum advertised speed of their current broadband connection, it is unlikely that they will be looking to pay more for a quicker connection.
Would you pay more for a faster internet connection?