Roughly three million British homes do not have broadband with a speed of 2Mbps or more, a new study has revealed.
The research, commissioned by the BBC and conducted by broadband measurement website SamKnows, highlighted areas of the UK known as "notspots", where fast broadband cannot be received. The 2Mbps figure was laid out by the government in its Digital Britain report as the minimum that households should receive from a universal service.
However, while the government is looking into the possibility of using satellite or mobile broadband to reach remote areas where fixed-line connections will not reach, the SamKnows study found that many notspots were in unexpected places.
"We had assumed that these notspots were in remote parts of the countryside," said Alex Salter, co-founder of the website. "That may be where the most vocal campaigners are but there is a high incident of them in commuter belts."
Various firms have offered solutions for the future of the UK's broadband services, with BT pledging to invest £1.5 billion in bringing fibre-optic broadband to ten million homes by 2012. Eutelsat Communications has also launched a new satellite service which it claims can provide remote users with speeds of 2Mbps - although it hopes to increase this to 10Mbps by 2010.
