Britain is "at the back of the pack" when it comes to broadband speeds, according to former BT chief technology officer Peter Cochrane.

Speaking to the Guardian, Mr Cochrane warned that the UK is at risk of being "frozen out" of the next industrial revolution as it lags behind many other countries on the availability of high-speed broadband networks.

"We're beaten by almost every other European country and Asia leaves us for dust," he explained.

Mr Cochrane's comments come in the wake of Akamai's latest State of the Internet report, which revealed that the UK has only the 16th fastest average broadband speed in Europe.

Akamai, a global content delivery network, found that the country's typical downstream rate fell from 5.1Mbps in the third quarter of 2011 to 4.9Mbps in the final three months of the year.

In contrast, South Korea and Japan - which topped the broadband speed ranking - saw their average capabilities increase over the same period.

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