Swindon and Milton Keynes are battling it out to be the
UK’s broadband capital.
The latest research from analyst firm Point Topic shows that
Swindon is once again top of the league for broadband towns in the
UK, but it is being pushed hard by a surge from Milton Keynes.
According to Point Topic’s analysis, at the end of 2006, 65.3%
of households in Swindon had a broadband connection, up 5.5%
from the end of June 2006.
However, its lead now looks shaky, as Milton Keynes went from
62nd to second place in just six months. It displaced Cardiff as
runner up, increasing by 15.4% to record 63.7% of households with
broadband.
Cardiff, now in third place, has a 62.4% household penetration.
The UK average is just under 46%.
Katja Mueller, research director at Point Topic, said Milton
Keynes was a town with a high proportion of families with children,
one of the fastest growing
broadband demographics.
Milton Keynes initially suffered in the broadband market as it
was built equipped with aluminium phone lines in the late 1960s,
rather than the standard copper wires. At the time, copper was much
more expensive to use.
The good news for Milton Keynes, however, is that it is now
being equipped with faster fibre broadband
connections.
Other local authorities in the top 10 include Epsom and Ewell,
St Albans, Stevenage and Watford.
At the other end of the table, typically with less than a third
of households on broadband, are West Dunbartonshire, Oswestry, the
East Riding of Yorkshire and the Isle of Wight.
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