Wingland: The village where fast broadband costs £100k

Kevin Mortimer says he and his wife are unable to stream or video call family due to poor internet speeds

A couple unable to stream films or video call in their small village say they have been quoted more than £100,000 to upgrade their broadband.

Kevin and Lynda Mortimer said their current 1Mb/s connection was "rubbish".

It also falls well below the 10Mb/s set out in legislation, which everyone in the UK has the right to request.

BT said the cost "accurately reflects" the "complexity" of installing infrastructure to a small cluster of properties in a rural location.

Mr Mortimer, 62, of Wingland, near Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire, said he was quoted £101,874.60 by BT to install a complex fibre network to the area, and he should ask his neighbours to contribute.

He said: "In a big city, you would get this for free, and it's wrong."

Mr Mortimer said the upgrade would cost nearly as much as the value of their small rented cottage.

Mr Mortimer says he was told by BT to ask his neighbours to contribute towards the costs

The retired factory worker said their current slow internet connection meant they were unable to stream movies, shop online or make video calls to family.

"We tried when my daughter was in Mexico", he said. "But it just would not work".

Mr Mortimer added: "We've just been told our car won't make it through its MoT. I don't know how I will find the money to pay for that, let alone £100,000."

In response, a BT spokesperson said the quote was provided under the Universal Service Obligation (USO).

The company said: "Although the USO has helped improve connectivity for around 8,000 properties to date, quotes reflect the cost and complexity of building in rural areas and can be high.

"We have reviewed the quote given to Mr Mortimer and unfortunately it is an accurate reflection of the costs of delivering a fibre connection to a small cluster of properties in the area,"

According to regulator Ofcom, research showed 10Mb/s was the speed needed to meet an average household's needs.

'Not fair'

However, it said download speeds were 26% slower in rural areas, and there were currently at least 61,000 households nationwide without a "decent" connection.

Download speeds determine the time it takes for information to be delivered to a user's device, and higher speeds mean less buffering as users wait for data to be downloaded.

Ofcom said the average download speed in the UK in March 2023 was recorded as 69.4Mb/s - meaning it would take less than a minute to download the first episode of Netflix's Stranger Things in High Definition (HD).

Mr Mortimer applied for an upgrade under the USO as the contract to provide high-speed broadband for the area has yet to be awarded.

According to a Department of Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson, the UK is building gigabit networks faster than any country in the EU.

The spokesperson said, to date, they had enabled access for more than one million mostly rural properties, and were accelerating the rollout in rural Lincolnshire.

However, Mark Riches, from the Country Land and Business Association, told the BBC Mr Mortimer's situation was "not fair" or "unusual".

He said there needed to be parity between rural and urban areas to enable the countryside to prosper.