Uswitch’s new digital divide analysis highlights UK’s North–South divide

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Nine of the ten poorest scoring councils were located in the North of the UK, while all 10 of the highest scoring were situated in affluent parts of the South

This week, the UK government announced its new Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, promoting the use of the latest technology to turn the UK into a “digital superpower”. But, looming in the background of all this talk of 5G innovation and 6G progression, is the stark reality that connectivity is far from a given for many in the UK. The digital divide is very real and, according to new analysis from Uswitch.com, appears to largely mirror the North–South economic divide.

Using a composite ‘digital divide’ score derived from broadband speed and accessibility data combined with home working statistics, Uswitch’s latest analysis explores the digital divide as it relates to UK councils.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the best performing councils – with the lowest digital divide score – are largely from the South of the UK, with Rugby council the only (arguably) Northern local authority to make it into the top 10.

Table 1: The ten councils with the smallest digital divide (smallest to greatest)

Data from Uswitch.com

Council

Work from home (any)

Median download speed (Mbps)

Full fibre (% premises FTTP)

Digital divide score

Lambeth

53.8%

58.6

64.0%

6.6%

Hackney

53.2%

72.6

44.7%

6.7%

Wandsworth

52.4%

61.8

68.2%

6.7%

Thanet

53.3%

50.6

69.8%

7.8%

Cambridge

48.5%

78.9

69.4%

8.2%

St Albans

63.1%

65.2

59.8%

8.9%

Kensington and Chelsea

49.5%

74.5

61.2%

9.3%

Three Rivers

47.7%

72.1

70.10%

9.6%

Spelthorne

48.2%

58.2

68.40%

9.9%

Rugby

52.5%

69.5

48.70%

10.2%

 

By contrast, the ten highest scoring ‘digital divide’ councils are primarily from the North, Scotland, and Wales. Indeed, of the 25 most digitally divided regions recorded, 12 were in Scotland and Wales.

The city of Edinburgh (15.6%) and the Vale of Glamorgan (17.3%) were the only councils from Scotland and Wales, respectively, to make it into the top 25 least digitally divided regions.

The ten councils with the greatest digital divide (greatest to smallest)

Data from Uswitch.com

Council

Work from home (any)

Median download speed (Mbps)

Full fibre (% premises FTTP)

Digital divide score

Argyll and Bute

18.0%

26.7

5.8%

97.9%

Highland

23.5%

29.7

31.9%

92.9%

Copeland

24.3%

27.8

3.4%

92.6%

Dumfries and Galloway

24.2%

30.1

24.4%

92.1%

Allerdale

25.0%

34.8

6.9%

91.7%

West Lindsey

23.8%

37.7

31.4%

89.9%

Moray

22.0%

35.8

47.3%

89.6%

Stirling

22.2%

26.7

55.4%

89.5%

Rochdale

20.0%

37.1

17.3%

87.2%

Neath Port Talbot

22.3%

38.0

17.6%

87.2%

 

The severity of the digital divide for some of these councils should not be underestimated. For the poorest performing council, Argyll and Bute, only 5.8% of premises have access to full fibre, the median download speed is 26.7Mbps, and less than a fifth (18%) of people work from home.

“Our digital divide report shows that regions with a poorer internet connection have less access to digital technology overall, with lower work from home rates and less reliable connections to the internet. Meanwhile, British councils with the smallest digital divide have higher percentages of their workforce able to work remotely,” said Uswitch.com fibre broadband expert Max Beckett.

“With the UK government recently committing £3.5 billion towards their ambition of becoming a scientific and technological superpower, including ‘levelling up’ more areas of the UK to foster better paid jobs and opportunities in these sectors, it is important to ensure people of all backgrounds will benefit from this investment in digital tech.

That the digital divide should closely correlate to the economic disparities in the UK should come as no surprise to anyone. Nonetheless, this analysis serves as a timely reminder that, even as major progress continues to be made in 5G and fibre, there are many parts of the country that are still woefully lacking quality connectivity.

Is the government doing enough to tackle the digital divide in the North of the UK? Join the connectivity industry in discussion live in Manchester next week at Connected North

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