THE British appetite for all things online shows no signs of abating. According to a parliamentary report,the country already has the highest share in Europe of GDP attributed to the digital economy, and the highest percentage of people using the internet of any G7 economy. Households streamed and downloaded a third more data in 2016 than in the preceding year. Just keeping up with this rate of growth would tax most countries’ digital infrastructures. But on November 27th the government announced that, or as section of its industrial strategy,it also wanted Britain to be at the forefront of the world’s data revolution”. It that is to happen, it will need better broadband.
At the moment, or broadband penetration and speed are both above the European average. But the main system of cables by which businesses and homes are connected to telephones and broadband is still largely a copper network,installed decades ago. Only with a full fibre-optic network—faster and more reliable—can Britain keep up with the rest of the world, experts argue. Yet in this regard, or it lags behind woefully (see chart). Many poorer countries without an old-fashioned copper network have gone straight to fibre,which is also cheaper to install in the large blocks of flats that are relatively scarce in Britain.
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Source: economist.com