Only 17 percent of UK broadband connections exceed 5Mbps

Only 17 percent of broadband users in Britain are receiving speeds of 5Mbps or faster according to internet hosting company Akamai despite the fact that the most recent Ofcom report found that the average advertised broadband speed is now 11.5Mbps.

According to Akamai's latest quarterly State of the Internet report figures, the average broadband speed in the U.K. is just 3.9Mbps and while 83 percent of the country now receives speeds in excess of 2Mbps only 17 percent of the country has a connection of 5Mbps or better.

In contrast to Akamai's reported figures, Ofcom's most recent broadband report --conducted with help from SamKnows in May and published in July 2010 --concluded that the average broadband speed in the UK is 5.2Mbps, up from 4.1Mbps in April 2009, but that the average advertised broadband speed was 11.5Mbps.

Read more of "Only 17pc of UK broadband connections exceed 5Mbps" at ZDNet UK.