Digital divide declines, but .4m homes cannot get decent broadband

Digital divide declines, but 1.4m homes cannot get decent broadband 16 December 2016

Advice to Government on universal broadband service

Ofcom calls for radical plans to achieve universal mobile coverage

New app available from today to check both Wi-Fi and mobile signals

The number of UK properties unable to get a decent broadband connection has fallen by one million over the past year, new research by Ofcom has found.

But 1.4 million UK homes and offices or 5% of properties remain unable to sign up for broadband speeds over 10 Mbit/s, the speed required to meet a typical household's digital needs. This is down from around 2.4 million, or 8%, last year.

The findings are part of Ofcom's Connected Nations 2016 report an in-depth look at the state of the UK's telecoms and wireless networks. This year's report shows good progress on the availability and take-up of communications services, which are crucial to people's personal and working lives.

However, the report finds there is much more to do particularly in boosting mobile and broadband coverage, and improving the quality of service provided by telecoms companies.

For example, rural areas still lag behind on broadband. Around a quarter of properties in rural areas nearly 920,000 cannot receive a connection of over 10 Mbit/s, often because they are situated a long way from the telephone exchange or local street cabinet.

To help close this speed gap, Ofcom has today set out its technical advice for the UK Government on implementing its plans for universal broadband.

Today's Connected Nations report also presents the current level of mobile coverage across the country. While the picture is improving, with 4G reaching more premises, coverage still falls short and Ofcom wants to see better coverage across the UK's landmass.

So we have begun discussions with mobile operators to look at radical and ambitious solutions to deliver universal mobile coverage, to keep pace with consumers' needs.

Steve Unger, Ofcom Group Director, said: Mobile and broadband coverage continued to grow this year, but too many people and businesses are still struggling for a good service. We think that is unacceptable.

So we're challenging mobile operators to go beyond built-up areas, and provide coverage across the UK's countryside and transport networks. Today we've also provided technical advice to support the Government's plans for universal, decent broadband.

Achieving decent, universal broadbandThe number of properties lacking access to decent broadband has fallen significantly in recent years, and is likely to fall further, given on-going investments by industry and Government.

But the universal service would ensure every home and small business in the country has the right to a decent, affordable broadband connection of 10 Mbit/s or above by the end of the current parliament.

Ofcom's analysis shows that this speed is sufficient to meet the current needs of a typical household. The online activity of users who can access this speed is far less constrained than those who cannot.

However, households are likely to need greater speeds as new, data-hungry applications emerge. We will therefore monitor the universal service and recommend its minimum speed to rise when necessary.

The final design of the service will be decided by Government, and then implemented by Ofcom. We have today set out technical advice to inform the Government's decisions on factors such as speed, eligibility, affordability and funding.

As part of this, we have scoped three potential scenarios standard broadband offering

a 10 Mbit/s download speed; a more highly specified version of this service, including a 1Mbit/s upload speed; and a superfast broadband service.

Government has said its preference is for the universal service to be funded by industry. Under this model, the companies providing the universal service would recover any unfair cost burden from a fund paid into by a range of telecoms companies.

Ofcom has also considered the need for universal broadband to reach the most vulnerable customers, including those on low incomes. There could be a need for a social tariff to provide affordable broadband for these customers, as there is for landline telephones today.(4)

A third of homes are now superfast'The coverage and quality of broadband across the UK has increased significantly over the past year, the Connected Nations report finds.

The average download speed of a broadband service in the UK jumped by 28% in the last year, from 29 Mbit/s to 37 Mbit/s. This reflects not only better coverage, but also people choosing to pay for faster broadband packages.(5)

Almost a third of homes (31%, or 9.1 million) have now chosen to take up superfast broadband a download speed of 30 Mbit/s or more up from one in four (27%, or around 8 million homes) a year earlier.

Superfast broadband is now available to nine in ten UK homes small businesses (89%, or 25.5 million), up from 83% last year. This has been driven by BT upgrading its network; Virgin Media converting more homes to faster packages; alternative' fibre only networks such as CityFibre, Hyperoptic and Gigaclear; and the Government's on-going Broadband Delivery UK programme.

Superfast services are now available to 80% of small and medium sized enterprises or SMEs (almost 1.9m) up from 68% in 2015.

However, 15%of the UK's SMEs are in concentrated areas such as business parks of which 36% do not have superfast speeds, and 11% cannot receive 10 Mbit/s.

Mobile reveals a mixed pictureSeven in ten premises (72%) can now receive an 4G mobile signal indoors from all four networks, up from just 28% last year, as operators continue to roll out faster mobile broadband. Ofcom rules mean that O2 must deliver a mobile data service to 9

LINK:	https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2016/...
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