UK ISP offers next generation broadband

The BBC reports that local British company Virgin Media is now offering a 50 Mbps (Megabits per second) domestic broadband service, for UKP 51 ($140) per month, with bundling offers allowing it to be had for less. Another UK ISP Be Broadband offers at 24Mbps service for UKP 17.50 ($48) per month.

Doesn't this make the broadband offerings in this country look sick?

So why are we being served up a third rate broadband service here?

Obviously the cost of international connectivity is far greater for ISPs to provide in NZ than in the United Kingdom, and this is exacerbated as British surfers are far more likely to go for UK domains than New Zealanders are for NZ ones, but my take is that it's mostly a legacy of the period when New Zealanders were forced to accept Telecom's offering of sub-megabit ADSL that was ludicrously claimed as broadband and the former government waiting an unreasonable period before forcing Telecom to allow other ISPs to offer more bandwidth.

If New Zealand isn't to be left behind in the technological world, we need to have a better broadband service and the new government needs to make this its priority.