Rural residents trump Derbyshire’s townies in quest for speed

It said that despite urban areas having more opportunities to connect to a full fibre network, it was people living and working in more rural communities who were more likely to switch.

The findings are contained in Ofcom’s Connected Nations 2024 report*, which also found that more and more households with a full fibre connection were opting for faster broadband speeds year-on-year.

Ofcom said: “To date, take-up of full fibre has been notably higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Of premises with full fibre access, 52% of premises in rural areas have taken a full-fibre service, compared to 32% in urban areas. This is despite the fact that residential premises in urban areas across the UK are more likely to have access to full-fibre network coverage.”

Full fibre broadband provider Gigaclear, which has given more than 15,000 rural homes and businesses in Derbyshire access to a full fibre connection, said it was not surprised demand was higher in rural communities.

Spokesman Richard Arquati said: “Rural communities, especially those that are hard to reach, can find themselves at the end of the queue when it comes to accessing full fibre broadband simply because it is often more costly and more technically difficult to reach them.

“So, when companies like Gigaclear, who specialise in connecting rural homes and businesses, arrive in their village or hamlet there’s often a mixture of relief and determination not to be left behind as the world increasingly shifts online.

“For many rural homeowners and businesses in Derbyshire, only Gigaclear offers a cutting-edge alternative to the existing slow and out-dated part-fibre, part-old telephone line technology that’s increasingly holding them back.”