Broadband access in the UK is definitely not on par with the countries listed in the article.
24Mbps down? Only if you're sitting directly on top of the exchange! From Be*, I get around 13-14Mbps down and 1.3Mbps up with the option to move to Annex M to increase my upload speed to around 2.3Mbps, for an equivalent (or greater) drop in download speed.
However, a very good thing about unbundling is the ability to combine several SDSL lines from different providers to give a leased-line-like connection for a fraction of the cost.