#urban-rural-divide

#urban-rural-divide

Mobile connectivity across the UK is becoming faster and more responsive on average; a marked gap still persists between the quality of experience in urban and rural areas; and the gap between the best and worst-performing local authorities remains significant, according to research from Ookla. The analyst's Speedtest Intelligence report for 2025 takes an overview of mobile network performance across the UK, focusing on outcomes at local authority level and how those outcomes have changed over time. The study was based on millions of samples from mobile devices connected to a cellular network, comparing results from Q1-Q3 2025 with the same period in 2024. For each local authority, the report considered not only typical speeds, but also the experience of slower connections, and the relationship between population density and mobile outcomes.

Remote work, first conceptualised in the 1970s1 has recently attracted the interest of many individuals, not due to its novelty but because of the rapid escalation in the incidence of remote or hybrid work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a means of engaging with the labour market, remote work holds great potential to advance European Union's territorial cohesion across social, economic and environmental dimensions, while aligning with the European Regional Development Fund's 2021-2027 priorities.

JWD, pronounced "Yot vee dey", stands for janz weit draussen which means "way out in the middle of nowhere" and captures urban-rural tensions.