TORY MP Anne McIntosh has expressed her dismay at the problem of rural broadband 'not spots'.

Many rural areas are languishing behind their urban counterparts when it comes to broadband internet speeds.

Miss McIntosh, MP for the Vale of York, said she recently wrote to BT about the situation.

"BT, responding to my letter, said that 99% of all businesses and households are within reach of a broadband enabled exchange.

"Despite my specific request, BT declined to give a precise figure for how many customers in North Yorkshire live in 'not spots'."

But BT did disclose that around 1% of lines did not support ASDL broadband, said Miss McIntosh.

"This could amount to as many 100,000 lines being in broadband 'not spots'. The vast majority of these 'not spots' will be in rural areas."

Those living in rural areas continue to face a real struggle to receive high-quality, high-speed broadband.

An Ofcom report last month showed that people living in urban areas received an average download speed of 4.3 Mbit/s.

The comparable figure for those living in rural areas was 3.3 Mbit/s. But many rural residents have speeds much slower than that.

Part of the reason for this gap was revealed by the Chief Executive of Ofcom, Ed Richards, in a response a parliamentary question.

Mr Richards disclosed that cable broadband is available to 54% of the urban households in the Yorkshire & Humber region, but that only 29% of rural households can access this technology.

"The broadband speed gap needs to be closed," said Miss McIntosh.

"There are inevitably difficulties posed by the affects of rurality and sparsity, but broadband providers and the government must do more to meet this challenge."

Rural people suffered less choice about their broadband supplier and slower speeds when connected.

"Some may not be able to access even the most basic broadband. In an increasingly technological world, broadband 'not spots' are an unacceptable relic of the past."