The East of England has the highest coverage of broadband and rural areas of the UK are better connected to broadband than their urban neighbours, a new Ofcom report reveals.

The report shows that, for the first time, there is a greater proportion of households with broadband in the rural parts of the UK’s nations and regions than there are in urban areas. Across the UK as a whole, 59 per cent of households in rural areas now have broadband compared to 57 per cent of urban areas.

When broadband was first introduced in the UK in 2000, households in urban areas were the first to take the service, leading to concerns that a digital divide was emerging between country and built-up areas. But the rapid rollout of broadband services across the country has meant that most parts of the UK now have access to this service and today’s report marks the end of the so-called divide. In England, 60 per cent of rural households have broadband, 2 per cent higher than in urban areas at 58 per cent. As well as measuring broadband households, Ofcom’s third Communications Market Report: Nations and Regions, measures take-up and use of television, radio and telecoms services in the English regions, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This year’s report looks in detail at the main cities in each of the nations and regions and offers a comparison of the South West, North East and North West of England.

Take-up of communications services across the UK Broadband Overall, broadband is in 57 per cent of households across the UK - up from 45 per cent in twelve months - and take-up has also increased steadily in the nations and regions. England saw the highest growth, up 13 per cent to 58 per cent. The East of England has the highest proportion of broadband households (68 per cent) with the East Midlands at the lower end of the scale with only 37 per cent of households having broadband. In Scotland as a whole, 53 per cent of households have broadband up 11 per cent in twelve months. In Northern Ireland 52 per cent of households have broadband, an increase of 10 per cent.

The full report from Ofcom can be found here