190,000 UK properties can’t access broadband speeds to meet modern needs – The Guardian

Almost 200,000 forgotten homes across the UK are being left behind in the governments digital revolution, unable to get broadband speeds deemed the minimum to meet a modern familys needs.

The telecoms regulator Ofcom has said that 190,000 mostly rural homes and offices, about 0.6% of all properties, still cannot access decent broadband speeds of at least 10Mbps.

This is the minimum speed deemed necessary to cope with modern needs, from downloading a film on Sky to streaming music or TV services from Netflix to Disney+.

Ofcoms annual Connected Nations report estimates that there are 119,000 premises in England that cannot get access to decent broadband. The figure is 34,000 in Scotland, 18,000 in Wales and 19,000 in Northern Ireland.

Last year the Commons environment, food and rural affairs select committee said rural inhabitants risked becoming second class citizens in the digital revolution, as people in urban areas benefit from next-generation broadband and 5G mobile.

Ofcoms latest report estimates that across England, Scotland and Wales more than 39,000 homes cannot get access to either a decent broadband service or good 4G mobile phone coverage indoors.

Addressing the UKs status as a global laggard in rolling out next-generation full-fibre broadband, making it available across the country by 2025 was a key promise of Boris Johnsons election manifesto. Since then, the government has watered down its ambitions to 85% coverage, including homes that can access similar gigabit speed technology via 5G network signals and copper wires as well as full fibre.

In the governments spending review last month, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said only 1.2bn of a 5bn fund to subsidise the rollout of gigabit broadband to the hardest to reach premises would now be made available over the next five years.

Ofcom revealed that 18% of UK homes, about 5m, now have the ability to get full fibre broadband, an 80% year-on-year increase. Nearly 8 m UK homes, 27% of the total, can now access gigabit speed broadband.

For millions of families this year, life during lockdown would have been even more difficult without reliable broadband to work, learn, play and see loved ones, said Lindsey Fussell, Ofcoms network and communications director. So its encouraging that future proof, gigabit broadband is now available in a quarter of homes.

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190,000 UK properties can't access broadband speeds to meet modern needs - The Guardian