Last week, MPs warned that BT must increase investment, improve service and boost broadband speeds or risk a break-up in a new report from the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee entitled ‘Establishing world-class connectivity throughout the UK.’
Vanessa Hale, Partner in the Research department at Strutt & Parker, said: “Post-Brexit, it is perhaps even more important that Britain gets to term with delivering cutting edge broadband as we separate from the EU. Our recent Housing Futures survey showed that broadband has become integral to not just the service sector, retailers and manufacturing in the UK, but also the rural economy including farmers but also those with new start-up businesses based in the countryside, a tribe we call the ‘Rusticarians’. Rapid action to improve broadband speeds in more remote communities needs to take place for the benefit of the whole of the UK.”
Strutt & Parker’s latest Housing Futures survey revealed that nearly half of respondents would consider moving homes if it meant they would have access to a considerable boost in broadband connectivity in their new property. The results showed that for 49% of survey respondents, the quality of broadband services was either ‘important’ or ‘very important’ in their decision of where to live. This is up from 41% last year. Indeed, broadband connectivity was shown to be a stronger factor in people’s desires to move home than personal finances (44%) or access to public transport (39%).
The Digital Economy Bill was recently introduced in the House of Commons on 5 July 2016. It will create a universal obligation on internet providers to provide a minimum internet speed – pitched initially at 10 megabits per second (Mbps) across Britain. Currently there are one million homes, or 5% of the country do not get 10 Mbps and the countryside is also riddled with mobile black spots.
Vanessa Hale, continues: “Broadband and mobile connections have become as essential to modern life as everyday utilities we expect like electricity and running water. In the 21st century, a speedy internet connection is crucial for a family to thrive in terms of accessing public services, researching information, shopping online and communicating with others at home and abroad – any home without good broadband speeds is automatically at an unfair disadvantage.”
To download the full report, ‘Housing Futures: The Village Revival’, please click here.