Some businesses still suffer from slow broadband speeds in the UK and things are likely to be worse by 2012, it has been suggested.

According to Peter Cochrane, an entrepreneur and telecoms expert, Britain is stuck in the "broadband slow lane" and is being overtaken by other countries in Europe and Asia.

Writing in the Financial Times, he outlined how a day after the government announced plans for universal broadband coverage of 2Mb by 2012, a minister in Korea said his country would have a standard service of 1,000Mb by 2013.

"Today, the UK is 25th in the global broadband league table," Mr Cochrane lamented.

"By 2012 it will most likely have slipped back to 30th because of stagnation and the progress of competitors."

He went on to suggest that the reason the UK finds itself trailing Japan, Korea and Scandinavia in broadband access is because BT plans to install a fibre-optic network in the 1990s were halted by the government for being an "anti-competitive move".

Today, BT is in the process of rolling out its 21st Century Network and is currently piloting a 100Mb broadband service in North London and Cardiff.