The Digital Divide
The Digital Divide - High Speed Broadband in Wales
The Internet is not just for fun or for doing your homework. It is essential to keep many businesses running as they rely on it for communicating with other businesses.
Businesses relying on the internet
At the moment most people who have the Internet use Broadband. But there are many new developments being made to make the Internet much faster.
Like what? I hear you ask! The latest development is fibre optic cables. This is a cable that transmits information as light waves. This means it is travelling at the speed of light. And that's incredibly fast…
Fibre Optics
In Wales many people say we are missing out on the latest technologies such as the fibre optic cable network, especially in north Wales and rural areas. This is causing a what's known as a digital divide.
The digital divide
In Wales less people have broadband than in England and you may hear that this is a problem for Wales - especially in rural Wales. In 2007, the regeneration group Mid Wales Partnership said black holes in rural Wales' broadband network were putting it in danger of falling behind the rest of the UK. It called for "urgent planning and investment" to improve high speed Internet connection.
A myth?
64% of people in Wales use Broadband. In the UK as a whole, 71% of the population use it. But the difference is getting smaller - between 2009 and 2010 it decreased by 3%.
However the popular story of rural Wales suffering is a bit of a myth because broadband take up in rural areas is higher than in urban areas. In 2010 the take up of broadband in rural areas is in Wales was 69% but the take up in urban Wales was only 62%.
However when it comes to superfast broadband there is a real North-South digital divide! BT the company responsible for our cable infrastructure is installing approximatley 100 new fibre optic cable exchanges. Sadly Wales will only see 5 of these and they are all in South Wales. These include telephone exchanges in Barry, Caerphilly, Penarth, Cardiff and Taffs Well (Rhondda Cynon Taff).
New fibre optic exchanges in Wales
Despite rural Wales having greater numbers of people having broadband there are still areas that are too far away from a telephone exchange to have fixed line broadband; so called 'notspots'. A broadband "notspot" is caused by being too far away from a telephone exchange.
Broadband Notspots
In Wales these are being overcome in two ways. For example, the Welsh are the biggest users of mobile broadband and 3G services. OFCOM says that the Welsh are the most 'tech-savvy' nation in the UK. Also the Welsh Assembly Government has an important programmer of support.
Why is Cardiff such a hotspot?
In South Wales around Cardiff there is a growing business sector that relies on state of the art ICT communications;
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Cardiff is the principal finance and business services centre in Wales.
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New international companies are located in the city.
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Cardiff has the UK's largest Film, TV & Multimedia sector outside London.
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The Wales projects are attracting new multimedia businesses to Cardiff Bay and further developments are expected since the creation of new film sets and recording facilities to the North and West of the City.
None of this is possible without the highspeed broadband that the fibre optic cable exchanges the Capital Region provides.
Activity
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Use a search engine or directory to find Hi-tec businesses in your local area, compare these to an area around Cardiff. How are they different?
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Try to find a business in your area that uses the internet - try to find out the internet speed in that area (Google - broadband street stats) - how does it compare to the 40mps available in Cardiff?
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There is a digital divide between Wales and the rest of the UK and within Wales there is a digital divide between the Capital Region and the rest of Wales. How does that make you feel? How might it affect your future?
