30 Nov 2009

Next-generation broadband 'not yet wanted'

A lack of frustration at present internet services could hinder plans to upgrade national broadband networks in the UK, it has been claimed.

Ian Fogg, principal analyst at Forrester Research, speaking at the Westminster eForum keynote seminar the Future of Broadband in the UK, said any fundamental change to the business communications sector is unlikely to get pushed ahead in the years ahead as there is currently feeling that services are at an acceptable level.

He commented: "One of the fundamentally different things this time compared to the switchover from dial-up internet to first-generation broadband is that there isn't a large amount of pent up dissatisfaction with current-generation broadband."

According to Forrester Research, the number of people online around the world will grow more than 45 per cent to 2.2 billion users over the next five years.

It noted that Asia remains the biggest global internet growth engine, while 43 per cent of the world's online population will reside in Asia by 2013, with 17 per cent of the global online population in China.