NEWS ROUND-UP


Exeter is worst connected city in the UK with only 6% 4G coverage


New Study Finds


Digital Investment Sorely Needed to Solve Urban Inequalities


• High-speed broadband is set to become a legal right by 2020, yet new data shows digital investment is still acutely needed in cities across UK


• Exeter has the worst broadband speed in the UK, and is one of the poorest areas for mobile coverage – however it has a relatively high number of public WiFi hotspots


• Unsurprisingly, London is the best-connected city with 61% 4G coverage, and nearly 700 people per public wifi hotspot


By 2020, high-speed broadband is set to become a legal right for homes and businesses across the UK, who will be able to expect a minimum speed of 10mbps. However, April’s County Councils Network (CCN) report indicated that two-thirds of the UK has below-average download speeds. This sets the UK’s businesses at a distinct disadvantage compared to its competitors in nations such as Japan, where 97% of the country is serviced by high-speed networks.


It is clear that technological investment is desperately needed in the next 18 months, so which cities require it more than most?


New data from GoCompare compares and contrasts 57 major business hubs across the UK, taking into account an array of digital infrastructure such as WiFi availability, Broadband speed and mobile/4G coverage. The results were collated into an interactive visualisation where you can see the overall ranking or sort cities by the three connectivity criteria.


The 10 best-connected cities Unsurprisingly, some of the biggest cities in the UK are also the most connected. However, there are some surprises in the top 10.


06 www.isopps.com Rank


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9


10 The 10 best-connected cities


Unsurprisingly, some of the biggest cities in the UK are also the most connected. However, there are some surprises in the top 10.


City London


Manchester Nottingham Salford


Birmingham Glasgow


Southampton Leicester Coventry


Brighton and Hove 4G


coverage 60.92% 60.92% 60.92% 59.54% 60.77% 60.92% 38.08% 60.92% 60.92% 44.69%


Av. download speed


31.70Mbps 30.44Mbps 31.24Mbps 33.02Mbps 30.82Mbps 31.02Mbps 32.86Mbps 30.62Mbps 30.90Mbps 33.90Mbps


The worst-connected cities


The worst-connected UK cities are spread across the South of England, Midlands and Wales. Where these cities fail in mobile and broadband connectivity, some make up for it by offering a higher number of public WiFi hotspots per person. The full breakdown of the bottom 10 is:


Rank


48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57


City Ripon


Gloucester Swansea Salisbury Lincoln Wells


Norwich Hereford Carlisle Exeter


4G


coverage 13.15% 11.31% 24.31% 3.00% 6.38% 0.62% 5.62% 0.00% 6.00% 6.31%


Av. download speed


27.58Mbps 29.30Mbps 31.14Mbps 28.72Mbps 27.48Mbps 26.08Mbps 27.16Mbps 25.14Mbps 25.92Mbps 26.84Mbps


People Per


Public Hotspot 1,856 1,205 2,043 746 624


1,171 908


1,732 2,068 1,166


People Per


Public Hotspot 698 395 904


1,560 650 756


1,179 1,285 1,406 1,446


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