Paris-Frankfurt fibre optic line 'is preview of the broadband to come'
Paris-Frankfurt fibre optic line 'is preview of the broadband to come'
By Tim Bisley (Wed, 27th January 2010)
Britain's broadband development is "stagnating", according to one blogger, who points to a new super-fast line linking France and Germany as an example of what can be achieved.
Although the internet continues to touch more and more facets of society, it is in danger of becoming bogged down with data and unable to increase the speeds currently offered, says Jeff Hecht, writing for New Scientist.
The arrival of bandwidth-consuming services has put pressure on the country's dated system and it is starting to creak.
However, British broadband experts need look no further than across the Channel for inspiration, where a 900 kilometre fibre-optic line reaches from Paris to Frankfurt - offering residents of France and Germany "ultra-fast" broadband.
Mr Hecht writes: "It is a foretaste of a high-speed internet backbone with enough capacity to satisfy bandwidth-hungry applications well into the future."
Explaining the problems encountered in other parts of the world - such as Britain - currently, he states that the dotcom boom in the mid-1990s resulted in fibre-optic cables being laid en masse.
New users and developments though - such as video downloads, streaming audio and video, file sharing and cloud computing - have stretched capability to the limit.
This may soon lead to worsening performance by broadband services.
The good news for British broadband users is that the UK government is already putting plans in place to revitalise the country's super-fast internet market.
A broadband tax of 50 pence a month per household will raise funds for new, state-of-the-art fibre-optic cables to be laid, while the government is set to invest £1 billion in a new broadband network.
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