Norfolk is 'lagging behind' in full fibre broadband rollout

The government says it is committed to providing nationwide full fibre broadband coverage by 2030.

Norfolk is "lagging behind" in the rollout of faster broadband speeds, according to a new report by the communications regulator Ofcom.

It found that every district in the county was in the bottom half of its UK league table that looked at full fibre accessibility.

In north Norfolk, 13.4% of properties had access to full fibre. The national average was 52%.

The government said it was committed to providing nationwide coverage by 2030.

"All of our residents deserve better," Jane James, Norfolk County Council's cabinet member for corporate services and innovation, told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"For those that have a household like mine - a teenage son, a daughter who watches Netflix and a mum who's trying to do her accounts online - sometimes the current speeds just aren't enough."

In Ofcom's Connected Nations report, the parliamentary constituency of Norwich North was found to have the highest percentage of properties in Norfolk that had access to full fibre broadband at 48.8%, while South Norfolk had 37.6% and Great Yarmouth had 23%.

Full fibre is when a fibre optic cable is used to provide broadband directly into homes and businesses. Historically, copper phone line cables were used instead.

The UK Government has primary responsibility for broadband policy and coverage targets, but local authorities handle the practical delivery of rolling it out.

Expensive to rollout

James Salmon, from County Broadband, an internet provider for rural parts of the East of England, said he understood the frustration of some broadband customers.

"The challenge with full fibre broadband is it's very expensive to rollout. And what tends to happen is incumbent providers tend to focus only on the big urban areas, and unfortunately Norfolk doesn't have many of them," he said.

Earlier this year, ministers pledged to spend an extra £114m on providing new "lightning-fast" broadband to 62,000 homes in Norfolk.

The announcement was part of the government's Project Gigabit programme which aimed to provide coverage to hard to reach communities across the UK.

"That funding is all about working collaboratively between us at Norfolk County Council, Building Digital UK and City Fibre who were awarded the contract and will be doing the key infrastructure build work," Ms James added.

"Improvements are being made."