Report 'will focus on universal broadband'

The communications minister's Digital Britain report will probably look at how to provide broadband for all, it has been claimed.

Stephen Carter's study - to be launched on January 14th in Westminster - is to reveal how the UK can secure its position at the forefront of the digital telecoms industry.

Edd Dawson, the managing director of comparison site broadband.co.uk, predicted that the "main area of focus" will be allowing broadband access of at least two Mbps across the country and how this can be achieved.

"There are many hundreds of thousands of properties that fall below this threshold currently, so the key will be how they propose to bridge the gap," he said.

"Mobilebroadband would likely be a cheaper option compared to a wired option, but would still require a large investment."

Mr Dawson's company has also just released its broadband speedtest results for December.

Its main findings were that the average download speed for all tests increased for the first time since July last year - rising by 14.02 per cent - and that this speed drops by 26.38 per cent during peak times.