A new academic study carried out by RCUK Digital Economy Research Hub and the Oxford Internet Institute highlights the true nature of the digital divide between urban and rural areas. The study, entitled ‘Two-Speed Britain: Rural Internet Use’, claims that Britain is being split between urban and rural areas with disparate access to high-speed broadband. Whereas those in urban areas enjoy access to high-speed broadband, those living in remote locations continue to suffer from a growing digital divide.
The research suggests that the growing divide in broadband speeds is risking damage to businesses and encouraging young people to relocate, as over a million people in remote parts of Britain are excluded from normal online activities. Dr Grant Blank, principal investigator of the Oxford Internet Surveys, stated that: “We show that slower broadband speeds are barring many rural communities from engaging in the social or commercial online opportunities enjoyed those in towns and cities.”
The researchers looked at ‘deep rural’ areas, which are those that are more remote, and ‘shallow rural’ areas, which are those that are less remote, in an attempt to highlight the true nature of the divide. The research indicates that just 5% of the people sampled in urban areas had average broadband speeds below the very modest 6.3Mbps, which is sufficient to download a ten-song album in around a minute, a film in about 18 minutes and 200 photos in around 4 minutes. In contrast, 53% of those sampled in deep rural areas could not reach this speed.
The report indicates that 1.3 million people in deep rural areas and 9.2 million people in shallow rural areas are affected by the broadband divide. Many areas in lowland rural parts of the UK are affected, but the divide is most apparent in upland rural areas of England, Scotland and Wales.
The lead author of the report, Professor John Farrington of the University of Aberdeen, stated that: “This broadband speed gap between urban and especially deep rural areas is widening: it will begin to narrow as superfast reaches more rural areas but better-connected, mostly urban, areas will also increase speeds at a high rate. This means faster areas will probably continue to get faster and faster, with slow speed areas left lagging behind.”
This situation puts rural businesses at a clear disadvantage because they are unable to benefit from the efficiencies associated with internet use, and have to adopt more costly and time consuming systems. It prevents customer-facing businesses from delivering the same services as their urban counterparts. Professor Farrington said that: “These issues can potentially create a new tipping point for poorly connected rural areas… Effects could include losing businesses; adding to farming costs; making out-migration more likely for young people and in-migration less likely for retirees or the economically active.”
The government is currently on track to extend superfast broadband to 90% of Britain by the end of 2015. They also pledged in their manifesto to extend superfast broadband access to 95% of Britain by the end of 2017. To be considered superfast, a broadband connection must deliver minimum download speeds of 24Mbps – significantly higher than the modest 6.3Mbps used in this latest research. Measures are currently being considered to extend broadband coverage to the final 5% of premises, which equates to around 1.5 million premises and is set to cost an estimated £500 million. With no concrete plans, as yet, it is clear the deep rural areas in the final 5% will be the last to benefit from high-speed business broadband.