LONDON- While many more British people are getting better mobile signals and faster broadband than last year, the rural areas are lagging behind when it comes to coverage, telecoms regulator Ofcom said on Friday.
Broadband access became highlighted during the general election campaign this year with the opposition Labour party’s plans to nationalise BT’s fixed-line network. Boris Johnson outlined a plan to get full-fibre broadband to all homes by 2025.
The annual report collated by Ofcom noted the progress that full-fibre connections, which are the gold standard for broadband, were rolled out to 10% of homes- up 4% from last year. It was also noted that all of the four mobile networks launched 5G.
Average monthly broadband data usage is also up to 315 GB in 2019 as compared to 240 GB per connection in 2018 proving that the demand for getting online has also gone up. This year’s data is the equivalent of 4 hours of HD video content per day.
Ultrafast broadband- speeds of at least 300Mbits per sec- were accessed by over half the homes; this remained broadly in line with last year.
Superfast broadband was accessed by 95% of the homes and it is sufficient for current household’s needs at speeds of 30 Mbits per sec.
“This year we’ve seen full-fibre broadband grow at its fastest ever rate, and all four mobile networks launch 5G. But despite this good progress, there is more to do to bring all parts of the country up to speed – particularly rural areas. So we’re working with industry and the government to help bring better services to people who need them,” said Yih-Choung Teh, Strategy and Research Group Director at Ofcom.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.