Analysis of over 63m broadband speed tests worldwide has revealed that the UK sits in 31st place, with an average speed of 16.51Mbps.
The data was collected across the 12 months up to 10 May this year by M-Lab, a partnership between New America's Open Technology Institute, Google Open Source Research, Princeton University's PlanetLab.
The UK manages to trump 158 other countries, yet falls behind 30 others, coming in behind 20 European countries, 17 of which are in the European Union (EU).
The five fastest countries have download speeds around 40 times faster than the five slowest. Singapore tops the table at 55.13Mbps, compared to Yemen, which is more than 162 times slower at just 0.34Mbps.
Poor connectivity is a longstanding issue in UK rural communities.
The lack of high quality broadband services in rural areas means that farmers, rural business owners and their families are being left behind.
Digital divide
Guy Smith, Vice-President of the NFU, commented: “More than ever farmers need to use digital technologies to help farm more efficiently and fully utilise emerging digital technology such as robotics and GPS.
“The ever-growing digital divide between urban and rural workplaces needs to be bridged. Government should recognise that, internationally, the UK is trailing behind other countries, putting our farmers at a competitive disadvantage.
“That’s why we are calling on Government to adopt a much more ambitious approach to finding ways to get fast broadband to those areas that need it most.
“This will mean ensuring there is necessary regulation in place and a competitive rural market. It is also essential to lay the foundations for an effective 5G network - universal coverage, with safe, fast and efficient systems that farmers can access to provide food and rural based services for domestic and international markets, while maintaining the countryside we all cherish, work in and visit.”
Unreliable signal
Key issues affecting farmers, according to an NFU survey which questioned 800 farmers, is that 85% of farmers have an unreliable outdoor mobile phone signal and 82% of farmers have an unreliable indoor mobile phone signal.
The survey showed that just 6% of farmers have access to superfast download speeds.
A recent government announcement of a new £400m broadband investment has been criticised for failing to benefit the countryside.
