Report warns of 'digital exclusion' because of poor rural broadband
There is a clear divide opening up in the UK between communities that have access to superfast broadband and those that do not, according to a new study.
Researchers from Aberdeen and Oxford universities examined the effects of fast broadband - or lack thereof - on communities across Britain. The most concerning finding was that rural communities that can only receive slow internet speeds risk losing their young people, who will move to built-up areas to pursue more technological jobs and lives.
Another finding of the report was that the lack of fast broadband in rural areas is making them less appealing places for people to move to in later life when they look for a change from city or working life.
The universities stated that more than one million people in Britain are excluded or face challenges in engaging in normal online activities because they live in remote rural areas not linked up with high-speed broadband. The research will add weight to recent calls for the UK government to do more to address the digital gap.
The government has set a target of getting 95 per cent of Britain access to superfast broadband by 2017. However, many have said a more detailed plan needs to be created of how the final five per cent will get connected, with most of these people living in rural and hard-to-reach places where superfast broadband roll-outs are not commercially viable.
Professor John Farrington of the University of Aberdeen and lead author of the ‘Two-Speed Britain: Rural Internet Use’ report said: “This report clearly demonstrates there is a growing social and economic gap between those who are connected and those who are not, the ‘digitally excluded’.
“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, with slow speed areas left lagging behind”
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