In rural areas we get used to second-rate services. And in some cases it is hardly surprising that what you get in the middle of nowhere fails to match up to the urban alternative. There are not many nail bars, tanning salons or mobile phone shops on Dartmoor for example – to most people's great relief.
But accepting the second rate is not a good habit to get into. So when it comes to rural roads, bus services, the frequency and quality of the trains and – crucially – rural broadband, we have a right to expect much better. The idea that lovely views and a better quality of life compensates us for services which are more expensive and of poorer quality than those enjoyed by city dwellers should not be entertained. "You can't eat the view" as one wag once commented, and neither can you use it to treat you when you fall ill, educate your children or keep you in touch with the fast-moving world of business and enjoy all the technological developments that are available on tap in the towns and cities.
For the last of those you need fast and reliable broadband connections. It may be true that broadband speeds make little difference to many aspects of rural life; they won't make the four-mile trek down single-track lanes any shorter or cure the bullocks of bovine TB. But what they will do is enable rural businesses to meet new markets, rural commuters to work from home and farmers and others with their feet firmly in the soil to stay in touch with all the things that can make lives easier and boost their businesses.
For all the hype things have not improved a great deal in recent years. Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, reports that while average broadband speeds have increased across the country by 64% in the past 12 months and more than doubled in the past two years, the gap between rural and urban broadband speeds has widened. There are initiatives under way, in both Devon and Cornwall to put that right. But, thus far, those projects have yet to deliver significant gains although we fully appreciate work is going on. Even when complete, however, the Government's most ambitious pledge is that 95% of UK premises will be covered by superfast broadband by 2017. Five per cent covers quite a lot of homes and businesses and there is every likelihood it is the rural parts of the South West that will be the ones to miss out. It has not been that long, after all, since mains electricity arrived in all parts of Exmoor – superfast broadband is going to be a long way off.
Not everyone is upset about that. Many people live in the countryside precisely because it is a long way from the kind of 'civilisation' that can often not feel very civilised at all. Even being out of mobile phone 'range' can have its advantages. But anyone can turn off the phone, log off the internet and enjoy some rural peace and quiet. What they want is choice. At the moment when it comes to good quality broadband, they simply don't have it.
