Digital highway is a road to nowhere for many rural retirees

Digital highway is a road to nowhere for many rural retirees

Following a recent report by The Royal Voluntary Service (RVS), predicting that half a million elderly UK residents could spend Christmas Day alone, NFU Mutual, the UK’s leading rural insurer, is concerned that the problem of isolation is much greater for elderly people living in rural areas due to a lack of access to reliable broadband.

While the Government is keen to encourage elderly people to use social media and video-calling to contact distant relatives, such systems are reliant on access to reliable and affordable internet access, something which can be a postcode lottery in rural areas.

Earlier this year, NFU Mutual undertook a study of rural internet users which showed that more than a third (37%) of those who do have internet access in the countryside say that it’s too slow for their needs.

Commenting on the problem, Nicki Whittaker, a Rural Affairs Specialist at NFU Mutual said: “The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee has just launched an inquiry looking at the current broadband coverage in rural areas, which suggests that sufficient progress has not been made and that rural residents and businesses are still disadvantaged by a lack of access to a reliable and quick broadband service.”

Not only are rural households less likely to have superfast broadband (22% uptake vs. 32% in urban areas) but they are also half as likely to be able to use mobile broadband through 3G and 4G devices.

Nicki continued: “The Government has just announced a two-tier approach to tackling this issue, the first part of which is a commitment to spend £150 million to finance hundreds of new mobile phone masts for the most isolated rural areas and, whilst this is certainly a step in the right direction, many rural home and business owners remain frustrated by the amount of time it is taking to secure fast and reliable broadband in their areas.

“The issue with rural broadband isn’t always that there is a lack of ways to get online but that many of them are inadequate. People should speak to their provider or local MP to discuss improvements or solutions. Community services, such a local libraries often provide online access; however, as many libraries in rural areas have closed, getting access to the internet is not always straightforward.”