by A huge digital divide still exists between urban and rural parts of Suffolk, despite a sharp increase in the number of homes with all-fiber broadband, a new study shows.
It found that across the east of England, access has soared over the past three years, from one in 14 venues to nearly half.
But it also found that around two-thirds of Ipswich had access to it compared with just over a third in Babergh.
Think Broadband and County Broadband surveyed broadband access at gigabit speeds in Suffolk, Essex Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.
Access to newly built full-fiber infrastructure across the region increased from 7.2 percent in April 2020 to 44.2 percent in April 2023, data show.
Suffolk has seen the fastest increase over the three year period, with access rising from 6.1% to 48.8%.
Essex saw an increase from 6.7% to 46.6%, while access to Norfolk increased from 2.8% to 34.7% and Cambridgeshire benefited from an increase from 12.4% to 47.8%.
It found that across the east of England, access has soared over the past three years, from one in 14 venues to nearly half.
But the analysis also shows large gaps between the different districts. Ipswich is 67.4%, West Suffolk 55.4%, Mid Suffolk 43.3%, Suffolk Coastal and Waveney 41.3% – and Babergh only made up 34.6% of the premises.
County Broadband – an alternative network (altnet) provider based near Colchester – said there was a large gap in full fiber connectivity between urban and rural areas, ranging from 15% to 71% – and even the nearby cities.
All-fiber broadband delivers fiber optic cables directly to your door to deliver speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps.
This is 11 times faster than existing historical super-fast networks that rely on copper wires built for telephones.
In Colchester it is still low at 28.8% compared to Braintree (58.7%) and Tendring (42.0%).
Cambridge has among the best coverage in the region at 71.5%.
In Norfolk, Breckland (43.7%) and Norwich (43.5%) have the highest figures, compared with Great Yarmouth (23.7%) and North Norfolk (15.8%).
County Broadband has pledged to connect half a million rural premises by 2027. It is rolling out full fiber networks in more than 250 rural communities across the eastern counties as part of a combined £146m private investment from Aviva Investors.
Business development director James Salmon said many rural communities were “deeply frustrated and held back” by poor, slow and unreliable internet.
“It is good news that the UK 50% full fiber milestone has been reached, according to these figures, but many residents and businesses, especially in rural eastern England, are all too aware of the postcode lottery when it’s about broadband,” he said.
“The full fiber infrastructure promises to unlock huge amounts of potential for technological innovations and advances to boost productivity in the East of England, while ensuring that rural communities and isolated individuals can stay connected and also enjoy all the advantages of full fibre.
“We look forward to connecting thousands of more homes and businesses over the coming months and years while helping to end the digital postcode lottery forever.”
