Despite wide coverage, many people in the UK still experience poor broadband, a new report from the National Audit Office stated.
The government aimed to have the best superfast broadband network in Europe and set up the Superfast Programme to subsidise broadband to areas not commercially viable for providers.
The £1.9 billion of public subsidy supported faster broadband to 5.3 million premises not profitable for the telecoms industry to reach. Today, 95% of UK premises have access to Ofcom’s recommended superfast download speed of 30 megabits per second, of which, 17% (5.1 million premises) were reached through the Superfast Programme.
Suppliers to the Programme were encouraged to prioritise roll out to the easiest to reach premises, which meant premises in rural or remote areas were left behind. Rural coverage of superfast broadband is now at 80%, compared to 97% in urban areas, and is the lowest in rural Northern Ireland, at just 66%. Only 57% of UK premises that have access to superfast broadband are signed up to superfast packages as they may be unaware that faster services are available, or may find their existing service sufficient, or consider faster services too expensive.
Consumers may also not experience their advertised broadband speeds for several reasons including factors in the home, the report stated.