Although many consumers are demanding access to the next generation of broadband, it is still not that demographic which will need it the most, according to an expert.

Michael Phillips, the product director at BroadbandChoices.co.uk, stated that while many people will want access to the new service, it is only really businesses which stand to reap the benefits of high-speed connections.

He noted that running costs for small businesses in IT which surround the movement of large chunks of data can be "still very prohibitive" and that timescales which can be involved in this process can make it worse for companies.

Mr Phillips explained that "having a high-speed internet network which take larger transfers of data means we can work on larger projects and larger projects tend to have larger revenues attached to them".

Last week, Gordon Brown stated that through the establishment of a universal service obligation for broadband in the UK, the UK would remain competitive as an international business power.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.