Every £1 spent on Broadband gives £20 to the UK economy

A new report has shown that every £1 invested into Broadband, brings £20 back to the UK economy.

The report commissioned for the government also reveals that the impact of superfast internet also has a huge impact on the way we live making it easier to work from home or stream online TV.

Earlier this year the first rural communities in Devon began to benefit from a rollout of superfast broadband to smaller communities.

The improvements are part of a £94 million investment in Devon and Somerset which will see 15,000 premises in the two counties’ benefit.

Sticklepath near Barnstaple has already seen work start on nearly 700 homes and businesses .

Moretonhampstead, Holsworthy, Bishops Lydeard, Creech St Michael and Monkton Heathfield (near Taunton) remain on track for the technology to start to become available before the end of the year.

The Connecting Devon and Somerset programme is working with private sector partners BT to ensure the delivery fibre broadband to around 90 per cent of premises by the end of 2016.

This builds on the 211,000 homes in Devon that BT already provides with fibre broadband.

Councillor Andrew Leadbetter, Cabinet Member for Economy and Growth for Devon County Council, said: “This announcement means that the roll out of high speed fibre broadband across Devon and Somerset marks the beginning of a real transformation for business across the two counties.

“Our rural businesses can start to overcome some of the barriers to growth they have faced now that they can take advantage of the increased opportunities that high speed broadband will bring. As an area we can now become more competitive, attracting inward investment, creating new jobs and supporting economic growth.”

The government report was conducted by SQW (with Cambridge Econometrics) and highlights the long term and short term benefits to job numbers to the rollout will bring.

They estimate that around 11,000 jobs will be created across the UK by the rollout in 2014 alone, with a net increase of 20,000 created jobs by 2024 with the greatest benefit set to be in rural areas.

There is also an expection that the rollout will heavily reduce co2 emissions due to more people being able to work effectively from home.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Maria Miller said: “What this report shows us is that as well as superfast broadband being good for economic growth it will make even more of a positive impact on the way we live, helping us work more productively and get online faster.

“Our broadband rollout is one of the best in Europe with almost three quarters of the UK able to access superfast speeds. This is making a real difference to people in communities across the UK from small businesses able to expand, school children being able to log on to do their homework or people being able to work from home.

“This investment in technology is vital for our future and will help Britain continue to compete in the global race and improve the way we live and work.”

The study is the most in-depth and rigorous examination of the impact of broadband in the UK, and looks at the economic, environmental and social benefits of superfast broadband

Dr Pantelis Koutroumpis, Research Fellow at Imperial College and Advisor of the Broadband Impact Report said: “Looking at the evolution of broadband speeds in different geographies, and the on-going network deployments across the UK, this study brings new insights into the impact of improved broadband access on the national and local economies.

“Notably, the added capacity particularly affects small and medium businesses across industries, while the intervention helps address a growing digital divide. This motivates further research in the future as more empirical data become available - for example, in the relationship between business speed increases and productivity growth.”