Broadband prices 'down 50% worldwide'

Consumers around the world are paying 50 per cent less for their broadband than they were in 2008, new figures have shown.

A survey by technology research firm Point Topic collected data on over 3,000 broadband tariffs and found Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) charges fell most sharply, with cable and fibre not far behind.

Point Topic attributed the ongoing reduction in charges to a sharp increase in the level of competition between operators.

Oliver Johnson, the company's chief executive officer, said many people only use their broadband connection for a couple of hours per day and use relatively little bandwidth in that time.

"They care much less about the cost per megabit, where fibre has the edge, than about the upfront and monthly charges and DSL wins that battle hands down," he remarked.

Earlier this month, Virgin Media increased its XL broadband package speed from 20 Mbps to 30 Mbps at no extra monthly charge.