GPSJ WINTER 2023 2024 LATEST - Flipbook - Page 45
LOCAL AUTHORITY & COUNCIL
GPSJ
Survey reveals UK local authority
connectivity priorities for 2024
Gigabit broadband rollout remains
the top priority for local authority
digital leaders, but 5G continues
to divide opinion and there’s not
enough focus on net zero.
These are just some of the key
findings from the second annual
survey of digital leaders at councils
across England, Scotland and
Wales, carried out by Edinburghbased connectivity consultancy,
FarrPoint.
When the research was
conducted in December 2023,
respondents were asked about
their priorities when it came to fixed
and mobile connectivity, as well as
the barriers preventing progress.
Responding councils were spread
across a variety of geographical
locations, from ‘dense urban’ to
‘rural’ areas.
The survey covered a range of
topics from councils’ views on 5G
and gigabit-capable broadband to
smart places and net zero.
Dr Andrew Muir, Chief
Executive at FarrPoint, said:
“This is the second year of our
connectivity research with local
authority digital leaders, and it was
interesting to see what’s changed
– and what hasn’t – since our last
report a year ago.
“Some great progress has been
made on digital connectivity within
councils, but there are still areas
for improvement. For example, it
was clear from the responses that
many local authorities are under
significant financial pressure, which
is, at times, leading to a reduced
focus on supporting the digital
connectivity rollout and take-up of
services.
“It was disappointing to see that
local issues, such as the planning
process and permits, were seen
as this year’s biggest barrier to
improving digital connectivity.
I’d encourage councils to work
together with other public
bodies, central government and
telecoms operators to tackle these
challenges, because they are
definitely surmountable.
“During the ongoing cost-of-living
Key findings uncovered during the research were:
• Getting more areas covered by gigabit
broadband remains the top connectivity
priority for council digital leaders for the
second year running. 47% of respondents
chose it as their number one priority, with
another 30% as second. Getting 100% of their
area covered by at least super-fast
connectivity featured as the second highest
priority for councils.
• 51% of councils who responded have an up
to-date digital connectivity strategy (up from
43% in Jan 2023), but around 11% still have no
digital connectivity strategy at all and almost
1 in 3 (30%) don’t have a digital champion.
• The importance of 5G continues to divide
opinion. Even though respondents said 5G was
important to them, none picked 5G as their top
priority for 2024. Ensuring more areas covered
by 4G was also ranked as a higher priority than
5G on average, suggesting that the business
case and additional benefits that 5G could
potentially deliver have not yet been widely
demonstrated.
• There has been a notable increase in
awareness and preparedness for the various
forthcoming connectivity service switch-offs.
For example, only 2% of respondents had not
started planning for the migration from copper
to fibre broadband, compared to 27% last year
However, 21% were still to put plans in place
for the 2G and 3G switch offs – which are
already under way.
• Despite the importance of climate action,
for the second year running, aligning digital
connectivity to net zero targets was ranked
as the lowest priority by respondents. There
was even a slight increase (from 2% to 6%)
in respondents who said net zero was ‘not
important’ to the digital department.
• Local infrastructure deployment challenges
– such as issues around street works, permits
and inconsistent planning processes –
overtook a lack of central government funding
as the biggest perceived barrier to improved
digital connectivity.
• There has been a small decrease (from 72%
to 70%) in the percentage of councils who are
either already deploying or considering smart
places projects as they look to maximise the
benefits of improved connectivity. The majority
of respondents (64%) believe social care is
the area where smart technology can have the
greatest impact.
• Affordability is seen by councils as the
biggest barrier to residential take-up of digital
connectivity services, reflecting the ongoing
cost-of-living crisis.
crisis, councils could also be
doing more to encourage take-up
of improved connectivity services
among their residents. There’s a
widely held perception that these
are unaffordable, but we’ve seen
many cases where improved
services are just as cheap, or even
cheaper, than existing services.
“I also hope to see a change in
approach to net zero, to reflect the
pivotal role that better connectivity
can play in achieving the country’s
environmental targets. Net zero isn’t
someone else’s problem – digital
departments can make a significant
contribution.”
Dija Oliver, digital project
manager at Swansea Bay City
Deal, who contributed to the
report on the survey, added:
“Digital infrastructure affects all
of the Swansea Bay City Deal
projects and programmes. It is
essential to the delivery of our
partners’ digital transformation
strategies, the economic growth
of our region and improving social
inclusion. We can only achieve the
objectives of our programme by
working collaboratively with industry,
government, and our partners,
using data to make decisions and
being agile in our approach.
“I welcome this report by FarrPoint
and believe that sharing these
findings across authorities and
encouraging debate can only help
us reach our collective ambitions.”
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL WINTER 2023/2024
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