Current ADSL broadband can offer a maximum speed of 24Mbit/s at its absolute best (Government broadband summit). The only cable provider is Virgin Media, after taking over NTL. Although this will meet most home users' needs, it will not do for medium-sized and large businesses in the years to come.
It is no longer a case of the UK beginning to fall short of the international network community - we already are. A lot of countries are already serving two, three and four times the speeds we are seeing in the UK.

Unfortunately, I think this situation will continue to  escalate, as I imagine by the proposed year 2012 the connection speeds will, again, be greatly increased in other countries. Action is needed before we fall even further behind the rest.

David Anderson