UK broadband speeds increasing as Virgin Media remains top internet provider

Ofcom has revealed that the average UK broadband speed achieved by households is 22 per cent faster than 12 months ago as consumers take advantage of the numerous high-speed services being offered by internet service providers (ISPs).

The average connection speed is now 7.6Mbit/s, an increase on 6.8Mbit/s in May 2011 and 6.2Mbit/s in November 2010.

But four out of ten households have yet to upgrade to faster packages, despite a minimal cost increases in doing so, Ofcom noted.

The watchdog's chief executive, Ed Richards, welcomed the speed increases and said Ofcom expected even higher average speeds in the coming years as firms such as Virgin and BT upgrade their services.

"There is a real opportunity for consumers to look at the packages and deals in their area in order to receive the best value, speeds and performance available to them," he said.

"We can look forward to further increases in UK broadband speeds over the next few years."

Ofcom's latest report also provided insight into the average speeds achieved by customers on some of the nation's major ISP, including BT, Virgin Media and Sky, with Virgin once again performing well.

Ofcom found that Virgin's up-to-10Mbit/s service offers an average speed of between 9.3 and 9.6Mbit/s while its 50Mbit/s service ranged between 47.4 and 48.8Mbit/s.

By contrast BT's up-to-20Mbit/s service achieved between just 7.8Mbit/s and 9.7Mbit/s. Its 40Mbit/s offering delivered between 35.4Mbit/s and 36.7Mbit/s.

Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, said the increasing speeds being achieved by consumers was a demonstrated the health of the UK's broadband market.

"More and more people are choosing fibre optic broadband and making the most of superfast speeds. It's good to see broadband speeds moving in the right direction," he said.

Despite the increasing speeds the UK is still a long way from achieving its goal of being the fastest broadband nation in Europe by 2015. A recent report placied it seventeenth among its European rivals.