Government allocates £1m for high-speed broadband research

The government has announced that £1 million will be spent on research into gaining higher internet connection speeds through fibre optic networks, according to a report.

Over a dozen projects will receive a share of the money from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and will work towards delivering connection speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) throughout the UK, reports the BBC.

A variety of companies will conduct research into how best to deliver the high-speed technology, while others will look into ways of improving existing infrastructure to accommodate new developments.

Mike Biddle, a lead technologist for the TSB, told the BBC: "There's a Moore's Law for bandwidth in the home - it's doubling roughly every 21 months. If you look out to 2020 you start to need about one Gbps and beyond."

Higher speeds could mean that applications such as VoIP hardware, television viewing and an array of business programmes can be run more effectively.

Businesses in the UK are increasingly favouring VoIP solutions in the workplace, according to accountingweb.co.uk.