Poor broadband is holding back rural businesses – study

POOR broadband and other infrastructure is holding back businesses in rural areas, according to a study partly carried out in the region.

The research by the Newcastle-based National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise found that around a third of rural enterprises in the North East, South West and West Midlands said broadband quality was “poor” or “very poor”, compared to a fifth of urban firms.

Rural businesses were more than twice as likely as urban firms to rate transport infrastructure as “poor” or “very poor”, with almost six in 10 having the same perceptions of public transport, compared to 21% of urban firms.

Centre co-director Prof Stephen

Roper said: “While evidence shows that access to a range of infrastructures and external resources can improve business outcomes and increase the ability of a firm to adapt and bounce back from adversity, little was known about the link between infrastructure and resilience before our survey.

“Our significant results indicating a positive relationship between broadband quality and firm resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic are particularly important to the levelling up agenda, when viewed alongside the issues with access to, and quality of, broadband in rural areas.

“Together they present a strong case for policy intervention to overcome the barriers preventing comprehensive high-quality broadband in rural areas, given its presence is likely to enhance resilience and, in turn, productivity growth of rural firms.”