Scotland is home to some of the UK’s worst digital connectivity areas

One in six locals in Dumfries and Galloway also do not have access to very high speed broadband, compared to 98% of very high speed premises in the UK’s most connected place – Bexley and Greenwich.

The study, carried out by marketing experts N. Rich, used new data from ONS and Ofcom to rank areas based on how many people were logged in in the past three months and how many of premises with access to very high speed, in order to discover the least connected and most digitally connected places in the country.

Behind Dumfries and Galloway, Perth, Kincross and Stirling rank second among the worst places in Scotland for digital connectivity and eighth in the UK.

Thirteen percent of people in Perth, Kincross and Stirling had no internet access at all in the past three months, and one in seven facilities failed to get super-fast broadband coverage.

Fermanagh and Omagh in Northern Ireland ranked as the least digitally connected area in the UK and Powys in Wales was the second most disadvantaged area when it comes to online connection.

At the other end of the scale, Croydon and Brighton were among the cities with the best digital connection.

A spokesperson for N. Rich, who conducted the study, said: ‘When you compare the internet use of UK residents with their ability to access fast broadband, it paints a clear picture of the digital divide and its most affected areas.

“As the internet is now our primary means of communication, from educating our children to accessing work and running businesses, it is more important than ever to ensure that every part of the UK has access to good digital access ”.