West Dunbartonshire ‘worst area in UK’ for superfast broadband

West Dunbartonshire is the worst area in the UK for superfast broadband, with only 11 per cent of premises with access, a study has found.

The data showed that only 12 out of the 391 UK councils analysed have reached 95 per cent levels of superfast broadband penetration or higher, the UK’S target – with none in Scotland.

The report, from Broadband Choices, reviewed 391 council plans for broadband outlined on each council’s website and comparing them with actual broadband performance levels as compiled by Ofcom.

On average, only 58 per cent of councils in the UK have superfast broadband – short of the UK government target of 95 per cent by the end of 2017. The Scottish Government has a separate target for every home and business in Scotland to have access to superfast broadband by 2021. Vix Leyton, home communications expert at Broadband Choices said: “This study demonstrates that while many UK councils have active plans in place to improve connectivity for their residents, very few have succeeded in actually meeting their targets.

“Meanwhile, areas with the most need have councils who are failing to recognise good internet connectivity as a strategic priority.”

She added: “Whilst our research gives a broad stroke picture of the UK by comparing council intention to reported performance, a lot of consumers are still in the dark when it comes to the actual service and speed they will personally receive until after they have signed up for a deal.”

A separate report published by regulator Ofcom showed that broadband and landline services continued to generate the highest volume of telecoms-related complaints.

Talktalk was the most complained-about provider for broadband and landline services. The company’s main complaint driver was faults and other problems with its services. Meanwhile, BT and Vodafone drew the highest complaints figures for mobile services.

Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, said: “Too many people are still experiencing a poor broadband service and our research has shown that more than half of British households have had a problem in the last year, with customers citing price hikes, poor speeds, connection dropouts and router issues as their biggest complaints.”

Jane Rumble, Ofcom’s director of consumer policy, said: “These figures give people the information they need to shop around and compare providers’ performance.”