England lags behind much of the EU for when it comes to broadband connection speeds, a new survey has revealed.

According to figures from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, English users are receiving only the ninth fastest broadband speeds in Europe, with an average connection speed of 2.6Mbps.

This compares with 21.7Mbps for Finland and 18.2Mbps for Sweden, which were placed first and second, where fibre optic networks are already in place for many.

Moreover, ninth place for the UK means that Britons receive even lower speeds than in countries with relatively small economies such as Hungary and Slovakia and Poland.

The report also flagged up the fact that Britons are paying much more for their connections than their overseas counterparts.

Where the average Finn pays around £2.54 per month for broadband, in England the average stands at £5.50.

News of the report comes after Ofcom last month warned that unless the UK takes action to update its network its economy could be damaged in years to come.

Ofcom said: "The current generation [of UK} networks will at some point be unable to deliver the very high speed broadband service that may be demanded by customers."