The incumbent phone and internet provider for Hull and East Riding (Yorkshire, UK), KC ( Karoo ), has welcomed news that Rightmove, the popular property sales website, could soon be including broadband ISP speeds in their house listings (here). However, KC warns that it could have other, potentially far reaching, implications for the Digital Divide.


Last year Thompson made a number of predictions for the broadband market in 2011 (here), one of which was the possibility of broadband-based migration from rural areas.

3. The emergence of broadband migration
A lack of broadband in rural areas could become a deciding factor in where people choose to live, as having broadband becomes just as important as having hot water or electricity. As the digital divide inevitably widens with the introduction of new broadband-based services, we could also see a type of “broadband industrial revolution“, where people living in rural communities actively move to urban areas in order to get a broadband connection.

At the time we commented that such a development was unlikely to happen anymore than it already does, especially with people being told to expect an improvement by 2015. However, if confirmed, then there is certainly scope for Rightmove's efforts to impact the current dynamic; by how much is anybody's guess.

At the time of writing it's still unclear precisely what Rightmove has planned, although adding broadband performance data to house listings is perhaps long overdue.