UK business demanding superfast broadband

Two-thirds of businesses expect to need more bandwidth in the near future

A quarter of UK workplaces now have broadband speeds exceeding 10Mbps, and 13 per cent are already experiencing 50Mbps or more, according to analyst firm Point Topic.

The research found that the number of companies with this level of broadband speed jumped from 18 per cent in October 2007 to 25 per cent in May 2008, and that many businesses expect even faster speeds in the future.

"Over 800,000 workplaces will be in the market for more bandwidth," said Tim Johnson, senior analyst at Point Topic.

"Forty-five per cent of UK premises expect to want more speed within the next two to three years, and seven per cent significantly more."

With the rise of hosted and remote services, social networking and growth in email and online multimedia, 61 per cent of medium and larger businesses expect to need even higher bandwidth in the near future, whereas only 39 per cent of those from smaller premises said the same.

"Remote access, remote helpdesks, video conferencing and VoIP are all becoming more embedded in day-to-day organisational use," said Johnson.

"These applications are the primary drivers for the increasing speeds organisations require now and in the future."

Although down by eight per cent since October last year, 8Mbps is still the most common downstream speed, being provided to a third of British workplaces. Just over a fifth of businesses surveyed said they operated on speeds of 2Mbps or less.