Lib Dems Win Broadband Speed Battle

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After the roaring success of Nick Clegg’s performance in the UK’s first ever TV election debate, colleague Vince Cable ensures the Lib Dem’s next victory; the senior politician’s constituents enjoy the fastest broadband in the UK.

 Lib Dem’s Vince Cable comes top in Top10.com’s broadband league table
 Cameron beats Brown for broadband speed

29 April 2010: After the roaring success of Nick Clegg’s performance in the UK’s first ever TV election debate, colleague Vince Cable ensures the Lib Dem’s next victory; the senior politician’s constituents enjoy the fastest broadband in the UK.

According to speed test data from the UK’s most popular broadband comparison service, Top10.com (http://top10.com/broadband/), Vince Cable’s constituents in Twickenham on average get speeds over two megabits faster than those in Alistair Darling’s constituency in Edinburgh South West.

In order to find out which constituency had the fastest broadband Top10.com analysed over 9,000 speed tests taken by web users over the last three months in the constituencies of 12 senior politicians from the three main parties.

Nick Clegg even pushed Gordon Brown into third place in the battle of the party leaders. Clegg’s constituency’s speeds (4.90Mb) were 1Mb ahead of those of Gordon Brown (3.91Mb), but behind those of David Cameron (5.91Mb).

As well as comparing the broadband speeds of the three parties’ leaders, Top10.com also looked at the speeds enjoyed by MPs closely involved in the passing of the recent Digital Economy Bill.

Tom Watson – the backbench Labour MP who was the main opponent of the Bill – has an average broadband speed of 5.8Mb in his constituency. In comparison, constituents of Stephen Timms, the Minister for Digital Britain, receive slightly slower speeds of 4.7Mb, while the slowest broadband in the survey was found in South West Surrey, the constituency of Conservative shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The national average for broadband according to Top10.com’s speed test is 5.25Mb.

Full table of results:

MP - Party - Constituency - Average - download speed (Mbps)

Vince Cable
Treasury spokesman Lib Dems Twickenham 9.38

Alistair Darling
Chancellor Labour Edinburgh South West 7.03

Simon Hughes
Shadow energy spokesman Lib Dems North Southwark & Bermondsey 6.05

David Cameron
Leader of the Opposition Conservative Witney 5.91

Tom Watson
Backbench MP Labour West Bromwich East 5.80

National average 5.25

Don Foster
Shadow Culture spokesman Lib Dems Bath 4.92

Nick Clegg
Leader Lib Dems Sheffield Hallam 4.90

Stephen Timms
Minister for Digital Britain Labour East Ham 4.70

William Hague
Shadow Foreign Secretary Conservative Richmond (Yorks) 4.47

Gordon Brown
Prime Minister Labour Kirkaldy & Cowdenbeath 3.90

George Osborne
Shadow Chancellor Conservative Tatton 3.89

Jeremy Hunt
Shadow Culture secretary Conservative South West Surrey 3.48

Alex Buttle from Top10.com said: “Broadband and the future of our internet infrastructure have become big election issues since the debate over the Digital Economy Bill. The huge range in broadband speeds identified in our survey demonstrates how a truly ‘Digital Britain’ is still a some way off. Instead we are still seeing a notable gap between those enjoying super-fast broadband speeds and others lagging behind well below the national average.”

The three main parties have significantly differing broadband policies in their manifestos.

While Labour has promised to deliver broadband at a minimum speed of 2Mb to “virtually every house” in Britain by 2012, The Liberal Democrats have pledged to scrap the Digital Economy Bill, and The Conservatives have promised to find an alternative, ‘market-based solution’ for encouraging universal broadband access.

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Notes to Editors:

Top10.com Media Ltd
Top10.com (formerly Top 10 Broadband and Top 10 Mobile Phones) is the UK’s most popular comparison site aimed at the broadband and mobile phone sector with over 1.5 million consumers using the site every month.

Top10.com is dedicated to providing the best offers to help people get connected. The award-winning service offers an unrivalled consumer experience, combining cutting-edge design, innovative tools and exciting new ways for users to interact. Alongside all the latest deals and offers, Top10.com includes up-to-date news, independent guides, and expert reviews.

Top10.com Media Ltd is a privately held company headquartered in London, UK.

Contact:

Pete Marcus
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Peter.marcus@citigatedr.co.uk
020 7282 2815

Phil Szomszor
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Phil.szomszor@citigatedr.co.uk
0207 282 1053