UK 'held back by archaic telephone infrastructure'
The growth of online communications within the UK has been hampered by the country's "archaic" infrastructure, the Internet Services Providers' Association has claimed.
The comments from the professional body come as the government minister for competitiveness Stephen Timms prepares to host a summit to discuss the future of broadband and related technologies such as voice over IP (VoIP) within the UK.
One issue set to be discussed is the possible introduction of a fast fibre optic network across the country, with experts citing the case of South Korea where such an initiative have allowed for broadband speeds of up to forty times faster than the UK.
According to the Internet Services Providers' Association, the limitations of the traditional telephone network are a major reason behind the relatively low speeds of domestic broadband connections.
A spokesman for the organisation explained that the UK had been "one of the first industrialising and technologically adopting countries in the world", but this meant that its infrastructure was based on much older technologies.
However, he added that the pressures of the market and the advances made in related technology will "drive forward improvements in network performance" and increase broadband connection speeds. 
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