This week the Treasury confirmed the launch of a £400m fund to encourage investment in updating broadband connections, plus 100% business rates relief for operators who install new fibre on their networks.

The department says the digital infrastructure investment fund (DIIF) will unlock over £1bn for full fibre broadband, and kick-start better broadband connections across the country. It will be managed and invested on a commercial basis by private sector partners, generating a commercial return for the government.

The Treasury says it will ignite interest from private finance to invest in the sector, resulting in more alternative providers entering and expanding in the market.

Andrew Jones, exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said: ‘We are investing £400m to make sure the UK’s digital infrastructure is match-fit for the future. As technologies change and people’s habits move with them, it is crucial we play our part to ensure Britain stays at the front of the pack.

‘Full fibre will provide us with the better broadband we need to ensure we can work flexibly and productively, without connections failing.’

However analysis by Oliver O’Brien, a researcher with the UCL department of geography, has identified a marked contrast between urban and rural broadband speeds, based on analysis of figures collated by the regulator Ofcom.

A map of broadband speeds reported across the whole of the UK shows the Llandrindod Wells   postal area in rural central Wales, having the slowest average broadband connection of 14.9Mbit/s. In addition the also extremely rural island of Mull in western Scotland, has an average speed of just 1.1Mbit/s.

The fastest broadband speeds of all are recorded in the Kings Cross postal district, which is home to the new Google headquarters. However, the research also suggests that the very centre of cities often show slower speeds than the suburbs, possibly because of the difficulty of installing the needed infrastructure under narrow, busy streets and through old, often historic buildings. By contrast, newer housing developments, normally on the edge of cities may come with broadband infrastructure designed in to the plans.

In its comments on Making Tax Digital plans, the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) has highlighted the difficulties that some rural taxpayers may face in regularly uploading information online to HMRC, citing a report published by the National Farmers’ Union which showed that 4% of respondents to an extensive survey conducted by the NFU had no internet connection, 58% had a download speed of 2Mbps or less, and 80% had an upload speed of 2Mbps or less.

O’Brien’s analysis of UK broadband speeds is here.

Details of the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Relief from Non-Domestic Rates) Bill are here.