Mobile broadband speeds in the UK are lagging behind a number of the country's European counterparts.

Many countries have deployed HSPA+ and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technologies throughout 2009 and 2010, giving them access to fast broadband via a USB dongle or other mobile hardware, Ofcom revealed.

Indeed, the regulator said Sweden's maximum theoretical mobile broadband download speed now stands at 100Mbps.

However, the telecoms watchdog stated the UK and France are trailing in the speed stakes due to lack of access to these new technologies, with their existing HSPA infrastructure only capable of up to 7.2Mbps downloads.

Ofcom acknowledged UK mobile broadband operators - which include 3 Mobile, O2 and Vodafone - have outlined plans to introduce LTE in the coming years.

But Informa Telecoms and Media has predicted it will not be "economically viable" for Brits to get access to LTE before 2015.

Senior analyst Dimitris Mavrakis claimed deploying the infrastructure earlier than this would be an "investment-heavy and somewhat unjustifiable decision".

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