A study conducted by Beaming, a broadband ISP, found that more than 15 million workers across the UK have reacted emotionally to internet failures which have lessened their productivity at work.

A new study of 1,000 workers in the UK, who attend meetings as part of their roles, has found that on average a third of an hour is “wasted company time”, with 4.6 minutes put down solely to internet or connectivity issues.

Rural regions across the UK are largely disadvantaged by the digital divide - a result of the areas being too scantily populated to justify the costs of major internet service providers expanding their telecommunication networks to meet and support people living in those areas.

MPs across the country have made recent claims that farmers and rural communities are severely hindered by their poor access to online services.

The government has announced plans to further push out connectivity to all NHS GP surgeries and hospitals. The plans are in addition to existing pledges to connect all of these sites with leased lines by August 2020.

The UK government has announced, as part of its modern Industrial Strategy, that it will provide access to 5G for a majority of the population, deliver full fibre broadband to 15 million premises by 2025, and provide full fibre broadband coverage across the UK by 2033.

The Engineering Employers Federation (EEF), the UK's organisation for manufacturers, has stated in its recent report, that the UK government is focusing too much on offering high speeds and not taking into account the other important factors of broadband, such as reliability and cost.

Businesses in rural areas of Scotland are getting access to superfast broadband speeds for the first time as the rollout of new technology gathers pace. Companies in communities such as Aberdeenshire, Angus, Ayrshire and Argyll and Bute, as well as the Highlands and Shetland, are to get access during the summer.

Broadband speeds in the UK are well behind the countries with the fastest internet speeds, according to a new report. New data from the Ookla Speedtest shows that the UK's speeds are just the 30th fastest in the world at 30.6Mbps. Singapore was revealed to have the fastest average internet speeds on the planet at 111.2Mbps, followed by Hong Kong (102Mbps) and South Korea (71.36Mbps).

Around a thousand companies in the Manchester area have taken advantage of a government scheme to help them upgrade their business broadband connections. Ed Vaizey, the Digital Economy and Culture Minister, explained that 1,000 firms in Manchester and Salford have already used the Broadband Connection Vouchers scheme.