The UK is witnessing a superfast broadband surge but challenges remain to address speed mismatches, according to Ofcom's just-published data on UK Broadband speeds.
According to the research one in four UK residential fixed broadband connections is superfast (connections offering headline speeds of 30Mbit/s or more), up from 5% in November 2011 to 25% in November 2013.
The report reveals that at 17.8Mbit/s, the average actual fixed-line residential broadband speed in the UK is almost five times faster than it was five years ago when Ofcom first began publishing the data (up from 3.6Mbit/s in November 2008).
And the average superfast connection speed has continued to rise, reaching 47.0Mbit/s by November 2013 - an increase of 47%, or 15.1Mbit/s since May 2010.
While the growth in average speeds show that investment in broadband technology is delivering benefits for most consumers, the UK picture is uneven. A significant number of households especially those in rural areas, can experience considerably slower speeds.
Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said: "Ofcom's report confirms the remarkable transformation of UK Broadband currently underway.
"The UK has the best superfast coverage of all five leading European economies, and the news that average speeds continue to rise is tremendous news for homes and businesses alike.
"We are working hard to close the digital divide between urban and rural locations and are investing £790m to ensure that 95% of the UK will have access to superfast speeds by 2017."