Posted: 11th Jun, 2003 By: MarkJ
The latest report from
Oftel and the Countryside Agency has found that many rural areas of the UK are still being bypassed by broadband technologies. Just 6% of rural villages are covered by ADSL, yet its even less (1%) via cable modems:
Just under 90% of urban centres and 52% of suburban centres are wired for ADSL. This compares to only 11% of market towns and 6% of rural villages.
The picture is similarly skewed in favour of city dwellers in the case of cable broadband. Two-thirds of urban homes and a third of homes in the suburbs are passed by cable, compared to just 11% in market towns and only 1% in rural villages.
BT, which this week connected its millionth ADSL customer, is making efforts to extend the reach of its technology. It hopes to have 80% coverage across the UK by the end of the year. But where it puts its broadband wires will continue to be determined by economics.Unfortunately satellite is too expensive, cable suffers from the same problems as ADSL and wireless networks are still spread far too thinly. Sadly time may be the only real solution. More @
BBC News Online.