Slow download speeds in Shropshire

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Friday, 14 December 2018 11:02

By Alex Moore - Local Democracy Reporter

Shropshire's internet users are having to put up with download speeds that are, on average, only half as fast as their neighbours in Telford.

Bosses at the government-backed Connecting Shropshire programme blamed the county’s large, sparsely-populated geography.

They said Telford and Wrekin was better-served by commercial broadband companies, but the borough’s council praised its own investment programme.

The leader of an England-wide local government groups says it “can’t be right” that rural areas are still losing out when it comes to internet speeds.

Shropshire had an average download speed of 26.3Mbit/s (megabits per second), while the Telford and Wrekin Council area had 52.7Mbit/s, almost double that.

West Devon had the lowest figure of all local authorities studied, 21.8Mbit/s, while York’s 102.9Mbit/s was the highest.

The survey of broadband speeds, compiled by law firm Grant Thornton UK and using data provided by OfCom, found the English average was 39.2Mbit/s.

Chris Taylor, the Connecting Shropshire programme manager, said: “Since 2013, the Connecting Shropshire programme has commissioned three separate contracts to deliver improved superfast broadband coverage due to market failure.”

These have linked up 62,000 homes or businesses, and this is expected to rise to 70,000, or 98 per cent of the county’s total, by 2021.

He said: “With regard to the difference in average download speeds between the Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin council areas, there are a number of factors that should be borne in mind.

“The most obvious of these is that the Shropshire Council area is far larger and more sparsely populated than Telford and Wrekin.

“This has meant that many more premises were not projected to be covered by the commercial market, leaving a much larger ‘intervention area’ for the Connecting Shropshire programme to resolve.”

He added Shropshire Council “remains committed” to making superfast broadband “ubiquitous”.

“Telford & Wrekin has a more competitive commercial market, with multiple suppliers, like Virgin Media and Openreach,” he said.

“As always, it’s dangerous to rely on averages for headlines. Indeed, some of the more rural areas of the Shropshire Council area have access to ‘full fibre’ with gigabit-capable connections – for example Bedstone, Bletchley, Fitz and Leighton.

“In contrast, parts of Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth and Ludlow town centres are still unable to get a superfast broadband connection because Openreach have not yet completed their commercial upgrade work.”

Councillor Philip Atkins, the leader of Staffordshire County Council – whose own average download speed is just above the average, at 40.2Mbit/s – and who is also chairman of the County Councils Network said there had been “significant steps forward” in rural connectivity in recent years, and councils like his own were working hard to link up hard-to-reach places.

He said: “These figures show that businesses in shire counties and rural areas are being left at a competitive disadvantage.

“It cannot be right that in some areas, businesses and residents in a city less than 10 miles down the road from a rural county benefit from average download speeds of more than three times faster.”

Councillor Hilda Rhodes is Telford and Wrekin’s cabinet member responsible for broadband.

She said: “The Council has invested in fibre infrastructure across the borough with its £5.6m programme, Superfast Telford which finished this year and provided a new fibre network to more than 9,000 homes and businesses.

“This puts the Telford and Wrekin area at 98 per cent coverage for superfast broadband speeds.”

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