At the annual Commission for Rural Communities conference in Birmingham, UK, I presented on the state of broadband in rural areas based on the work done for their "Mind the Gap" report.

2. Mind the Gap CRC’s input into the Digital Britain process The first empirical national study of broadband in rural areas

3. 99.6%* * Just means a small number of BT exchanges aren’t equipped with ADSL

4. 5 – 20%? Urban or rural?

5. Why does nobody know? Much of the information is “commercially sensitive” Even if central bodies have the data, they can only share derived information No-one has ever asked for an independent national view

7. England is a very odd place We only live in two places. . .

8. Urban heartlands

9. Rural idylls

10. A very odd place Hypothesis: “60% of the English population might get superfast broadband from commercial operators” And this is where they live!

11. A very odd place Hypothesis: “60% of the English population might get superfast broadband from commercial operators” Fixing the Copper? The mean distances are too great FttC? There aren’t always cabinets Wireless? In some places but trees and valleys pose problems Fibre is likely to be the only long term solution

12. A very odd place

13. League table of the disconnected Rural Communities Farming and Forestry Urban Commuter Mature Urban Households Struggling Urban Families 21% of rural homes are likely to receive less than 2Mbps

14. And what’s missing? Line length is only one source of broadband problems Quality of copper and line-sharing are others Line sharing is a result of economically vibrant rural areas Further work is underway to map these issues – watch this space!

15. A very odd place

16. Superfast broadband?

17. So why 50p? Most ISP’s only resell BT Wholsale’s offerings Marginal investment Little scope for technical innovation Those that do invest, do in the same places Typically along with Virgin and WiMAX operators Expectations of market share must be small Everyone only competes on price Ever eroding margins Ever shrinking funds to invest in the future If the market won’t change, how is the UK compete?

18. So why 50p? 50p generates a fund of £900m by 2016 Could a partial business case generate the same? Could community investment mean a further slice? Investments from those that are able as they do for wind farms? Contracted trigger campaigns as security And commercial finance has a role Can we combine to create a solution?

19. Rural v Urban Digital Britain creates new tools for rural areas But we still don’t have sufficient detail to plan the whole solution - YET Its up to us to make sure it delivers NGA and not another sticking plaster Lots of first generation choice Evidence of sweating the last ounce of value from legacy networks About half of BT’s ducts have enough space for three 25mm cables* Enough to supply 17,000 homes in each duct A new divide? * Source: Analysys Mason for Ofcom

20. Summary The telecoms industry has a polarised view of England Rural areas in England Have not been targets for commercial investment in the past And are not targets for future investment 42% of rural homes fall below 2 Mbps But we need more analysis The answer is fibre – we just need to find the way to do it Digital Britain provides some additional tools for rural areas but isn’t going to solve everything alone And may have tilted the next generation problem towards urban areas Getting to the future will be a team effort

21. Questions? Thank you! Adrian Wooster a.wooster@broadband.coop