Rural households are reportedly paying 76 percent more for broadband compared to urban households, according to research published in Telecompaper this week, with homes in towns and city fringes paying 22 percent more on average than those in urban centres

Rural homes are also more likely to get slower broadband speeds than what they pay for compared to broadband users in cities.

Those in rural areas receive broadband speeds three percent slower on average than what they pay for, with speeds 28 percent slower on average than the typical advertised download speed.

By region, the most expensive broadband in the UK is in the North East of England, Northern Ireland and Scotland - costing £0.58, £0.51 and £0.46 per MB of download speed received respectively.

The areas with the cheapest broadband are London, Wales and the south east of England.

This comes as Openreach is said to be announcing another ramping-up of the planned £12bn investment programme this week.

The network is currently aiming to connect 20 million UK premises with its gigabit broadband service by the mid to late 2020s.

Full articles:

Telecompaper - UK rural homes pay 76% more for broadband than urban homes - study

Uswitch - BT rolling out full fibre broadband to more rural areas