Rural broadband use overtakes cities

Technology - News

Friday, 23 May 2008

Rural areas of the UK are better connected to broadband than their urban neighbours, a new Ofcom report reveals.

The report shows that, for the first time, there is a greater proportion of households with broadband in the rural parts of the UK’s nations and regions than there are in urban areas.

Across the UK as a whole, 59 per cent of households in rural areas now have broadband compared to 57 per cent of urban areas.

When broadband was first introduced in the UK in 2000, households in urban areas were the first to take the service, leading to concerns that a digital divide was emerging between country and built-up areas.

The rapid rollout of broadband services across the country has meant that most parts of the UK now have access to this service, however, and the report marks the end of the so-called divide.

In England, 60 per cent of rural households have broadband, 2 per cent higher than in urban areas at 58 per cent.

The gap is the same in Northern Ireland with 54 per cent of broadband households in rural areas and 52 per cent in urban areas.

Steady increase

In Scotland, 59 per cent of rural households have broadband compared to 52 per cent of urban households.

The biggest difference is in Wales where 51 per cent of rural households have broadband, in contrast to 43 per cent of urban households.

As well as measuring broadband households, Ofcom’s third Communications Market Report: Nations and Regions, measures take-up and use of television, radio and telecoms services in the English regions, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

This year’s report looks in detail at the main cities in each of the nations and regions and offers a comparison of the South West, North East and North West of England.

Overall, broadband is in 57 per cent of households across the UK - up from 45 per cent in twelve months - and take-up has also increased steadily in the nations and regions.

England saw the highest growth, up 13 per cent to 58 per cent. The East of England has the highest proportion of broadband households (68 per cent) with the East Midlands at the lower end of the scale with only 37 per cent of households having broadband.

In Scotland as a whole, 53 per cent of households have broadband up 11 per cent in twelve months. In Northern Ireland 52 per cent of households have broadband, an increase of 10 per cent. The lowest growth of broadband households is in Wales, up 3 per cent to 45 per cent.

Digital television

Digital television is in 85 per cent of households across the UK - up 10 percentage points since 2006.

Wales saw the smallest growth up two per cent to 84 per cent; Scotland was up nine per cent with 85 per cent of households having digital TV.

Northern Ireland has the lowest take-up at 79 per cent, but it increased by the highest rate of all the nations, up 10 per cent since last year.

Across the UK’s cities, Sunderland has the highest number of digital TV households – more than any other nation or region of the UK, with 96 percent taking the service, followed by Cardiff and Glasgow at 95 per cent.

London saw the highest growth up 20 percentage points in 12 months to 89 per cent. Households in Londonderry/Derry have the lowest levels of digital TV homes at 64 per cent, followed by Birmingham at 70 per cent.

In 2007, the four main broadcasters increased their proportion of television programmes made outside of London. ITV failed, however, to reach the required quota of money spent on programmes made outside of London (44 per cent instead of 50 per cent).

Ofcom is now reviewing the issue and considering what action would be appropriate.

Mobile-only homes

More than one in five people in England (22 per cent) now own a DAB digital radio set, up 3 per cent in twelve months.

Wales remained static at 14 per cent while Northern Ireland saw a two per cent increase to reach 13 per cent. The highest growth was in Scotland, up seven per cent to 21 per cent. At 12 per cent, more households than ever before now rely solely on a mobile phone.

Wales saw the highest growth of mobile-only homes up nine per cent with around a fifth of all homes (19 per cent) mobile-only. Some 12 per cent of homes in England are mobile-only, an increase of three per cent.

In Northern Ireland, around one in ten households (11 per cent) are mobile-only, up 1 per cent in 12 months. Scotland was the only nation where the number of mobile-only homes fell slightly from 14 per cent to 12 per cent.

In the UK’s cities, Greater Manchester has the highest levels of mobile-only homes at 28 per cent, followed by Londonderry/Derry at 27 per cent.

Ofcom undertakes this research to enable it to develop effective regulation to benefit citizens and consumers based on the most authoritative evidence available.

Ed Richards , Ofcom chief executive, said that the report highlighted a closing of the geographic digital divide in the UK, as rural households are as well connected to broadband as their urban neighbours.

“Across the UK, take-up of all communications services continues to grow with more people watching digital television and listening to DAB digital radio and consumers are benefiting from convergence and using new ways to access traditional services,” he concluded.

The full report can be found at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/cmrnr08.