[Chrysalis]

The uk consumer is part of the problem but not all of it.

Lets compare international broadband in particular america to the uk.

In america cheap broadband is available but its low speed, even if on cable and fiber technology. It's well known the vast majority of broadband consumers dont use much bandwidth so a model where heavy users pay more then light users isnt very profiteable.
However high speed is also available but at a higher price, these packages are what provide the profit to pay for future investment and also allow bigger margins for users to download more, in the UK BT market the same speed for almost everyone and just about every adsl isp is up to 8mbit now with the price only varying for other factors of the service such as amount of traffic and addons. Give a light user up to 8mbit for a bargian basement price and there is almost no incentive for that user to spend more money, this is the problem we have right now. The uk broadband market was in a better shape 4 years ago when there was less users who paid more for their service.

BTs adsl2+ speeds dont do much to bring up the average speed they just triple the headline speed so they can boast 20+mbit connectivity but the truth is 3/4 lines are over 2km and as such will still be below 10mbit even on adsl2+. So the 2 problems with the uk are consumers who now expect top speed for bottom dollar and the lack of willingness for investment to improve infrastructure without a garuantueed quick return which is what BTs 21CN is (cost cutting exercise).

Unless there is a massive market change I think the only way the UK will move forward is government intervention either by regulation or using taxpayers money to directly fund last mile investment.