Continued Improvements seen in Digital Connectivity Infrastructure across the UK, but Adoption Stagnating

22 July 2024

All UK nations are continuing to see improvements on digital connectivity infrastructure, driven by roll outs of Gigabit and 5G connectivity. However, progress on digital adoption is limited.

In the third update to FarrPoint’s DCRI, the UK’s headline digital readiness score remained at 85 out of a possible 100. The picture was similar for each of the constituent nations with the headline score remaining static - England (87), Northern Ireland (81), Scotland (80), and Wales (78). On the Infrastructure side the UK and each of the nations continue to perform strongly and see improvements. However, on Adoption, scores stayed the same for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but dropped back by 1-point in England.

Analysis of each of the UK nations showed varying performance on infrastructure and adoption:

• England is still the best performing home nation on both infrastructure (91) and adoption (83). On Infrastructure, improvements focussed on the fixed side, particularly on the continued roll out of fibre networks. England’s Adoption score fell to 83 in the latest update, due to worsening metrics on Affordability and Innovation.
• Scotland’s Infrastructure score continued to improve, up to 82, reflecting the ongoing fibre roll out alongside continued improvements in 4G coverage. On Adoption, Scotland’s score remained at 79, with a slight decrease in the Affordability indicator being offset by increases in the Digital Economy and Innovation metrics.
• Wales’ Infrastructure Index continued to improve, up to 82, driven by increases in Gigabit, 4G and 5G coverage. On Adoption, the index was unchanged 76, interestingly the metric changes were the inverse to those seen in Scotland with an improving Affordability being offset by worsening Digital Economy and Innovation metrics.
• Northern Ireland is still seeing a stark difference in performance between Infrastructure (90) and Adoption (75). On Infrastructure, the continued roll out of Gigabit capable and 5G networks, drove an increase in overall score up 1 point. The Adoption was unchanged, with decreases in Affordability and the Digital Economy Indicators being offset by an improvement in Innovation.

Matthew Izatt-Lowry, Senior Economist at FarrPoint, said:

“Our latest DCRI results show that all four UK nations are continuing to improve their strong position on access to Digital Infrastructure. However, without widespread adoption of these technologies, the networks alone won’t yield any tangible benefits for households, communities or business.

“Unfortunately, the adoption picture continues to lag network availability. Whilst in some areas of the UK there have been improvements on the business adoption side, on the Digital Economy and Innovation, despite cost-of-living pressures easing, Affordability of digital services is becoming an increasing barrier to household adoption.

“Decision makers need to understand these changing strengths and weaknesses within their region to enable them to create an evidence-based digital strategy. We hope that our DCRI scores will help them to do that.”

Next report and next steps

Undertaking the Digital Connectivity Readiness Assessment and defining the DCRI score is the first stage in (this will open in a new window)a 5-step plan that public bodies can take to understand the strengths and challenges within their region and to enable them to create a digital strategy and implementation plan.

We invite the public sector to get in touch with us and have a conversation about their DCRI scores.

The next FarrPoint Digital Connectivity Readiness Index results will be released in Autumn 2024. Sign up to FarrPoint alerts to be the first to hear about the new issue.

GET IN TOUCH ABOUT YOUR DCRI SCORE