Unforeseen levels of demand are hampering Carphone Warehouse/TalkTalk's broadband service in the outer London area, it has been reported.

According to the Independent on Sunday, the UK broadband provider has received 2,000 complaints over slow connection speeds and poor connectivity from London residents.

The paper surmises that the gridlock in the system is due in part to the fact that TalkTalk is still waiting for Opal, Carphone Warehouse's telecommunications division, to assign further bandwidth.

The problem could yet worsen, it is predicted, not least since Opal has missed several of this month's deadlines to free up bandwidth, the paper reports.

Opal has however indicated that it will be able to provide a significant increase in capacity later this week.

TalkTalk has not so far commented on the problem specifically, but has issued a statement on its website indicating that "its engineers are aware of the issued and are currently investigating".