Abstract
The Internet can bestow significant benefits upon those who use it. The prima facie case for an urban-rural digital divide is widely acknowledged, but detailed accounts of the spatial patterns of digital communications infrastructure are rarely reported. In this paper we present original analysis of data published by the UK telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, and identify and reflect on the entrenched nature of the urban-rural digital divide in Great Britain. Drawing upon illustrative case vignettes we demonstrate the implications of digital exclusion for personal and business lives in rural, and in particular remote rural, areas. The ability of the current UK policy context to effectively address the urban-rural digital divide is reviewed and scenarios for improving digital connectivity amongst the ‘final few’, including community-led broadband, satellite broadband and mobile broadband, are considered. A call is made for digital future proofing in telecommunications policy, without which the already faster urban areas will get ‘faster, fastest’ leaving rural areas behind and an increasingly entrenched urban-rural divide.
Highlights
For many it is difficult to imagine life without digital modes of communication
A common finding is that the rural telecommunications infrastructure is inferior to that serving urban areas. This results in large numbers of people being unable to fully exploit the potential of ICTs because of where they live and work: yet there is a paucity of literature about the specific spatial nature of rural digital exclusion and the ramifications of this
We present an analysis of fixed and mobile broadband infrastructure attributes for England, Scotland and Wales which clearly shows an urban-rural digital divide, but a ‘deep’ rural versus ‘shallow’ rural and urban divide
Summary
For many it is difficult to imagine life without digital modes of communication. In the discourse that the Internet bestows significant benefit upon those who use it, global media assume that digital connectivity is ubiquitous and governments exhort citizens to interact with the state online. Over a decade later, Sparks (2013, p28) noted that the digital divide is a term “used to cover a broad range of social differences in access to and use of digital equipment and services, most notably personal computers, and the ability to access the internet in terms of both physical connection and facility of use”. These definitions allude to two broad, interrelated digital divides: (i) socio-economic digital divides and (ii) divides resulting from inequalities in the technological infrastructure required to support digital connectivity
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