Survey Claims Lack of Gigabit Broadband “Prevents” Streaming in UK Rural Areas

A new YouGov survey of 2,016 UK adults, commissioned by Netgem, has claimed that up to four in five rural respondents would like more than “broadband only” offers from ISPs, but the “lack of gigabit-capable broadband availability currently prevents them from accessing the popular streaming services the rest of the nation enjoys.” Does it?

The survey also noted that Scottish respondents were twice as likely to have no streaming subscriptions at all compared to London, which they added was “unsurprising given that up to 24% of some areas of Scotland have broadband speeds of under 15Mbps, compared to 0.82% in London.”

So far as we can tell, the aforementioned figures are based on network availability data from Thinkbroadband (not speedtest data), which is good, but at the same time the use of ambiguous wording like “some areas” overlooks the fact that nearly 95% of Scotland is now estimated to be covered by a 30Mbps+ capable network and just 2.92% can only get below 10Mbps speeds.

Similarly, we don’t entirely agree that the lack of gigabit-capable broadband “prevents” those in rural areas from “accessing popular streaming services.” Not that gigabit-capable broadband isn’t brilliant to have, but most streaming services can deliver content at speeds of down to c.0.5Mbps, while HD quality streams will work at 5Mbps on Netflix, YouTube [720p] and iPlayer etc. The best 4K streams usually need 20Mbps or more.

Summary of Additional Survey Findings

➤ 79% of rural respondents are unsure or are considering switching to an ultrafast broadband package that included streaming services as part of the bundle, and only 21% would not consider it. This is despite the fact that only 25% of these same respondents currently had a TV and broadband package.

➤ 57% of 18–24-year-olds, 62% of full-time students and 59% of households with one or two children outlined that they would be more likely to switch to a broadband provider that could include these [TV and WiFi] services as part of the overall package.

At this point it should go without saying that Netgem, as a provider of Pay TV and WiFi Mesh solutions to UK ISPs, has a vested interest in the results of such a survey and thus their study should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Shan Eisenberg, CCO at Netgem UK, added:

“Today’s findings show that there is a clear link between slow average broadband speeds and lack of uptake in streaming services. The research shows that the demand for ultrafast broadband and streaming services is there in rural areas, so there is a huge opportunity for the Altnets to fill this gap in the market and bring consumers in underserved areas of the countries the Fibre and TV streaming bundles that are so successful everywhere in the country.”

As above, you don’t need gigabit broadband to have a good streaming experience, although the extra speed and reliability of such networks would still be welcomed by many consumers. At present, around 42% of the UK are within reach of gigabit-capable connectivity, and this is expected to hit c.60% by the end of 2021.