In response to the Worldwide Broadband Speed League 2022, Lloyd Felton, chief executive of County Broadband, an Aldham-based community provider building full-fibre networks for thousands of residents and businesses in rural East of England, funded by £146 million in private investment, commented:
“It is pleasing to see the UK starting to climb the global broadband league table in this well-respected report after spending so long near the bottom when compared to our European neighbours in the fast lane.
“One big reason why UK average download speeds have risen by over 20 Mbps in just a single year has been the significant year-on-year rise of independent network operators, or alternative networks (‘alt-nets’) such as County Broadband, who have increased provision not just by 20Mbps, but typically by 900Mbs and for the first time collectively as an industry passed the one million mark for UK live connections to full-fibre networks. Meanwhile, the total number of premises passed* stood at 5.5 million in 2021/22 – more than double the previous year.
“This landmark achievement is testament to the alt-net’s growing reputation for pushing boundaries, collaboration and innovation, while expanding consumer choice at the same time. Our industry’s expanding footprint also demonstrates ever-increasing strong demand for superior full-fibre infrastructure – whether that’s speed, symmetry or reliability – that old copper-based superfast broadband simply cannot provide.
“At a time when we welcome the new government and its promise to ‘action this day’, we should also take stock of the fact that the UK should not have half the broadband speeds of Romania, France and so many other Western European nations. We stand ready to action this day, and every day, to extend our full-fibre network under plans to connect half a million premises to gigabit speeds across the East of England by 2027.”
