{"id":25578,"date":"2020-09-01T13:13:01","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T13:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/?p=25578"},"modified":"2021-01-04T13:15:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T13:15:00","slug":"covid-19-has-exposed-rural-devons-broadband-speeds-as-second-world-say-campaigners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/covid-19-has-exposed-rural-devons-broadband-speeds-as-second-world-say-campaigners\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 has exposed rural Devon’s broadband speeds as ‘second world’, say campaigners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Campaigners in Devon say the increase in remote working due to COVID-19 has pushed the broadband infrastructure in rural communities beyond its limits and shown it is ‘around about the worst in the country’.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Telecoms expert Graham Long, who chairs the Broadband for Rural Devon & Somerset<\/a> campaign group, blames the council-run Connecting Devon and Somerset<\/a> (CDS) programme for the county\u2019s \u2018appalling\u2019 broadband speeds, which are typically less than half (30Mbps) the national average (64Mbps).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CDS cancelled its contract with rural broadband provider Gigaclear<\/a> twelve months ago following delays \u2013 meaning no government-funded fibre has been installed in the county for a year. The programme is now looking for a fourth contractor in five years, which Mr Long says is a sign of \u2018incompetence\u2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is estimated<\/a> more than seventy thousand people in Devon do not have access to \u2018superfast\u2019 speeds of at least 24Mbps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018I\u2019ve just learnt to live with it\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmental scientist Kathryn Miller used to commute regularly from her home in Totnes to the University of Exeter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kathryn
Environmental scientist Kathryn Miller standing at her homemade desk in Totnes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Since lockdown she has had to adapt her spare room into an office, but the bandwidth there is so poor she often has to kick her partner off the WiFi and take video calls in her front room sitting next to the internet router, which she says impacts her mental health:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Some of my most stressful periods of work have been when I\u2019ve been wondering or worried about whether my broadband will be good enough to last the entire meeting, because when the broadband freezes a lot, you find yourself getting a bit anxious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I\u2019ve just learnt to live with it, and that\u2019s not good enough really, is it?’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gigaclear says the unique geography of the county \u2013 such as narrow lanes, seasonal flooding and high density of agricultural land \u2013 led to the delays with their CDS contract because installation machinery often had issues accessing rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since their contract termination they have connected 6,000 homes to their full fibre network, but, without state funding, only to communities willing to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gigaclear’s South West Regional Manager, Jo Scarrott<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Gigaclear\u2019s south west regional manager, Jo Scarrott, says COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of installing fibre: \u2018It has become an essential utility [\u2026] now that people want the comfort of working from their own home for their own safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018They have every right to have a form of connection. Ideally an ultrafast one [up to 1000Mbps] if I\u2019m honest\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK government promised in the 2019 election that all homes will have access to ultrafast speeds by 2025. The map below shows the progress towards this goal so far in Devon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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