The average residential broadband speeds in the UK reached 9Mbps during May 2012, according to a new report.
Ofcom’s latest research into fixed-line residential broadband speeds revealed that the average broadband speed recorded in May is 2½ times faster when compared to the average speed of 3.69Mbps recorded in November 2008
During the period, about 68% of UK fixed-line residential broadband users have opted packages with advertised speeds over ‘up to’ 109Mbps, when compared to 48% during the same period in 2011.
The report also revealed that nearly 8% of residential broadband connections were superfast by May, when compared to 5% six months earlier and 2% in May 2011.
Average speeds of residential superfast broadband connections also increased from 35.5Mbps in November 2011 to 35.89Mbps in May 2012.
Ofcom’s research also revealed that cable broadband connections had produced the highest rises of 17.9Mbps average speed in the six months to May 2012 from the earlier 3.6Mbps.
During the same period, ADSL broadband, a technology which offers broadband over copper wires, reported 10% rise in its average speeds to 5.9Mbps from the earlier 5.3Mbps.
Average actual speeds recorded for fibre to the street cabinet (FTTC) connections declined 12% to 31.6Mbps in the six months to May 2012 when compared to the earlier recorded 36.0Mbps.
