Industry news

Optical fibre 'may be only solution able to increase bandwidth capacity'

Optical fibre technologies could be the only solution to increased demand for bandwidth, an expert claims.

Managing director of broadband.co.uk Edd Dawson claims there is a maximum capacity typical copper wire can achieve and suggests the UK may be approaching this limit.

Commenting on the recent drop in average internet speed, he believes a greater number of people have been using bandwidth intensive online activities such as streaming media.

He says the exact causes of the slowdown are uncertain but raises the point streaming media demand increased at the same point.

Mr Dawson states the UK may be reaching the point at which adopting optical fibre solutions may be the only way to increase bandwidth speed.

"There is only so far that speeds over copper wire can be pushed, at some point a replacement is required," he explains.

UK Broadband Speedtest Results for October found the average download speed has decreased to 3.325Mbps from the July high of 3.609 Mbps.