Do you wonder how the UK fares against other European countries in regards to broadband and mobile connectivity? Well, you might have to wonder a bit more.
Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, carries out various reports on performance, looking at things like UK broadband and mobile connectivity compared with other major EU economies like France, Germany, Spain, Italy etc.
However, it seems that Ofcom have covertly scrapped their annual international comparison despite having been publishing it since back in 2013 when they began the International Broadband Scorecard.
The report examined various connectivity benchmarks within fixed and mobile broadband performances across different countries, such as:
- Network availability
- Take-up
- Use
- Prices
This then enabled them to measure and compare them with the relative performance of the UK.
Where did the data come from?
Ofcom normally relied on Omdia-Informa Tech, a third party provider, to supply the data for the non-UK countries included in the report.
However, as this data is available from Omdia-Informa Tech (as well as other similar telecoms research companies) to anyone who is prepared to pay a fee, Ofcom decided that them stopping their publication of the data would not hinder stakeholders and the like from being able to benchmark the UK broadband offering against the international market themselves.
Scrapping of International Broadband Scorecard a Cost-Cutting Measure?
It would seem to us that this move to scrap the report is likely a cost-cutting measure. This is unfortunate as the reporting was a useful point of comparison to see how the UK was doing in regards to broadband and mobile connectivity on an annual basis when compared without our European counterparts.
Despite the fact that Ofcom rarely promotes their reports which meant the information they provided was often missed, they have provided some handy and relevant information in past years.
Can I get the Broadband and Mobile Connectivity Data Somewhere Else?
Thankfully, yes! There is an annual report published from the European Commission that goes some way to compare the UK with EU countries on Broadband and Mobile connectivity (you can find the latest one here).
If you want to check out the latest summary from the final Scorecard from Ofcom for 2023 (with data from the latter part of 2022) the interactive report is online here.
