Rural broadband subscribers outstrip urban neighbours says Ofcom

Rural areas of the UK are better connected to broadband than their urban neighbours, a new Ofcom report says.

The report shows that, for the first time, there is a greater proportion of households with broadband in the rural parts of the UK than there are in urban areas.

Across the UK as a whole, 59% of households in rural areas now have broadband, compared to 57% of urban areas.

When broadband was first introduced in the UK in 2000, there were concerns that providers would cherry-pick more populated urban areas and that rural areas would miss out.

Initially, this was the case, but the Ofcom report seems to show that major broadband build-outs by the providers have now given rural areas a better deal when it comes to connectivity, although some rural areas still complain about missing out.

WiMAX long-range wireless broadband technology is seen as a possible solution to filling in UK broadband gaps.