Japan offers world's fastest broadband speeds

Whilst the UK isn't even in the top ten

15 September 2008 17:44 GMT / By Katie Scott

While UK internet providers are now wondering who is going to foot the £30 billion bill for updating the country's broadband network, if you want really fast connection speeds, you'll have to move to Japan.

A new study has revealed that Japan is the only country that has the infrastructure to be able to cope with the next-gen internet applications.

The study, sponsored by Cisco Systems, looked at 42 countries, and was carried out by a team of MBA students from the Said Business School at the University of Oxford and the University of Oviedo's Department of Applied Economics.

They developed a way of scoring each nation on its broadband quality based on the speeds achievable for both uploading and downloading.

They also took into account data loss and delays in information routing.

In second place after Japan was Sweden, followed by the Netherlands, while the UK, Spain and Italy were all below the "quality threshold" so not able to cope with the coming tech.

Researchers said that Sweden and the Netherlands were successful because of "increasing investments in fibre and cable network upgrades, coupled with competition diversity, and supported by strong government vision and policy".

Alastair Nicholson, of the Said Business School, concluded that other countries need to do more.

"Average download speeds are adequate for web browsing, e-mail and basic video downloading and streaming", he said.

"But we are seeing more interactive applications, more user-generated content being uploaded and shared, and an increasing amount of high-quality video services becoming available."

Fernando Gil de Bernabe, managing director of Cisco's internet business solutions group added in an interview with the BBC: "This study gives broadband stakeholders - from governments through to telecom and cable operators and vendors like Cisco - as well as consumers a better understanding of the importance of quality broadband connections".

"Without high-quality broadband, we will not be able to take full advantage of the next wave of productivity, collaboration and entertainment that can be gained from the web."

Top quality broadband nations:
1. Japan
2. Sweden
3. Netherlands
4. Latvia
5. Korea
6. Switzerland
7. Lithuania
8. Denmark
9. Germany
10. Slovenia