Rural areas of the UK are better connected to broadband than their urban neighbours, a new Ofcom report reveals. And the Highlands are among the best served in Scotland, with only Aberdeen achieving a higher take up rate.
In the Highlands some 62 per cent of adults have a broadband connection at home, with 51 per cent reporting that they use a wireless router. By comparison, Glasgow is well behind with the respective figures being 32 per cent and 23 per cent.
The Highlands even match London for the percentage of adults with home broadband…and are far more likely to access the net wirelessly. Only 37 per cent of Londoners own a wireless router. Overall, broadband is in 57 per cent of households across the UK - up from 45 per cent in twelve months - but 59 per cent of households in rural areas now have broadband compared to 57 per cent of urban areas. See for yourself how the Highlands measure up by downloading Ofcom's Scottish survey spreadsheet.
Other key findings for Scotland are:
* The Scots watch more television than any other nation at 4.0 hours per day, higher than the UK average of 3.4 hours. However, radio listening in Scotland is amongst the lowest at 22.9 hours per week compared to the UK average of 23.5 hours per week
* People in Scotland are more likely to do several media activities at the same time – also known as “media stacking”. Two-thirds of Scots spend time talking on their mobile while using the internet. This is almost double the number of people in Wales who media stack these activities (38 per cent), and higher than the average in England at 48 per cent and Northern Ireland at 49 per cent.
* Mobile telephone owners in Scotland are using them less to access the internet than the other nations at 15 per cent compared to the UK average of 20 per cent.
* Social networking is less popular in Scotland and Wales, with fewer adults using these sites than the UK overall – 15 per cent in each nation compared to 21 per cent in England and 22 per cent in Northern Ireland.
Ed Richards, Ofcom chief executive, said: “Our report highlights a closing of the geographic digital divide in the UK. Rural households are today as well connected to broadband as their urban neighbours.”
He added: “The report also shows that across the UK, take-up of all communications services continues to grow with more people watching digital television and listening to DAB digital radio and consumers are benefiting from convergence and using new ways to access traditional services.”
The full report can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/cm/cmrnr08/
