Connecting the dots: How digital access can transform local areas

17 July 2025: Think back to the last time you bought something on the high street, your most recent visit to a local service like the hospital or, simply, the last time you commuted to work.

It’s extremely likely that connectivity played a pivotal role in all three. Whether it’s connecting you to a payment service, helping to confirm your upcoming appointment or allowing you to check train times, digital connectivity is at work all the time.

Between individuals making use of public services and businesses looking to grow, high quality digital connectivity is also a vital part of improving local prosperity across the UK.

To understand this better, VodafoneThree commissioned WPI Strategy to assess how connectivity correlates with socio-economic outcomes across health, education, employment and business growth throughout the UK.

The analysis was clear: better digital infrastructure aligns with stronger local performance, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

Assessing local authorities

Not only does the UK rank last in the G7 for mobile data speeds – and 22^nd of 25 European countries for 5G availability – but not all parts of the nation are equal when it comes to this connectivity either.

In fact, across the UK, disparities are stark. More than one in 10 UK residents experience poor connectivity when it comes to mobile and fixed, particularly in Wales, Scotland and rural England. Which, as a result, has a knock-on effect for the prosperity and wellbeing of residents living there.

Of course, a 5G mast alone won’t reduce unemployment or boost businesses’ productivity overnight, and different regions will need different solutions, but improved mobile and fixed connectivity will help.

That may be by assisting people in finding work through digitised job centre services, online learning and support services that build skills and confidence. Or, alternatively, by helping SMEs to reach new customers more quickly.

To demonstrate how this would work in the real world, the research grouped communities into three digital opportunity categories:

Optimise

Broadly, a third of communities (37%) are generally doing well across the chosen socio-economic indicators, albeit there is still scope to close gaps, support further digital growth, and sustain the demand for online services.

Build

Most areas (51%) are performing around the national average across the measures, though increased investment in digital transformation could help make a meaningful impact.

Develop

A minority of communities (12%) are underperforming across key socio-economic indicators. Because they are not yet seeing the benefits of digital transformation, these areas still risk falling further behind.

The good news is that every community is starting from a stable foundation that can be built upon.

Take Pendle in East Lancashire, for example. It has medium-level connectivity and falls into the ‘Develop’ category, facing: an unemployment rate of 7.4%; below-average productivity (£32.30 Gross Value Add (GVA) per hour); low SME formation; and a high proportion (28.4%) of residents without formal qualifications.

While life satisfaction remains high, better infrastructure and support could unlock entirely new opportunities for work, learning and business.

The Nation’s Network

The new 5G Standalone (5G SA) network that VodafoneThree will build by 2035 could help deliver between £205-411bn in UK GVA growth – a key measure of the value of goods and services in a particular area, industry or sector.

In the process, this could help: save the NHS £1bn; unlock 11 million police hours annually; and help create 778,000 new jobs across the economy.

While digital connectivity may not solve all the issues facing the nation, it does remain a critical enabler of the digital transformation needed to improve people’s lives in every corner of the UK.

Which is why VodafoneThree has created a dynamic map to track how these digital opportunities can be realised. After all, this isn’t just about faster browsing or more reliable calls, it’s about investing in every part of the UK – its businesses, its communities, and its people.