Wales is catching up in the rollout of superfast broadband, new Ofcom research has revealed.

But the research also shows that, despite the increase in the availability of new broadband services, the proportion of adults in Wales who had signed up to broadband (71%) was six percentage points lower than the UK average.

And many small firms and rural residents reported problems with poor mobile phone coverage and unreliable internet.

Ofcom’s annual Communications Market Report shows that the number of premises covered by Next Generation Access (NGA) networks - used to provide superfast broadband services - has increased by 10 percentage points, year on year.

This brings the number of premises covered to 58%, compared to the UK average of 78%.

The increase in availability of superfast broadband has been driven by the Welsh Government’s Superfast Cymru project.

According to the Welsh Government, by May 2014 the project had resulted in fibre broadband covering 156,000 premises, across 14 unitary areas. And some parts of rural Wales now have the fastest domestic broadband services in the UK, with speeds of up to 330Mbit/s.

The project aims to ensure that 96% of homes and businesses have access to superfast broadband by 2016.

The Market Report found that although the majority of small businesses in Wales are making use of online services and are satisfied with communications at an overall level, a quarter report having experienced poor mobile coverage and over a quarter report having experienced poor reliability of their internet connection.

However, satisfaction with reliability is not significantly lower in Wales than in the UK as a whole.

Of the four UK nations, Wales has experienced the largest increase in DAB radio set ownership over the past year, with 42% of households now owning at least one set, a 15 percentage point increase. This brings Wales into line with the UK average.

The take-up of communications services and devices among those who can speak or write Welsh is a new aspect to this year’s report.

It shows that, in general, Welsh speakers are less likely to have a tablet computer in their household (34%, compared to the 45% Wales average) and a lower proportion of Welsh speakers use a mobile phone to access the internet (39% compared to the 52% average).

Linked to this, take-up of smartphones is lower among Welsh speakers (42% compared to 57% across Wales). This is thought to be due to the older age profile of Welsh speakers, and the higher proportion living in rural areas.

Rhodri Williams, Ofcom’s Director in Wales said: “For too long, Wales has lagged behind the UK for communications services. Our research shows that when it comes to the rollout of superfastbroadband services, Wales is beginning to bridge the gap.

“Our research also highlights just how important communications services are to small and medium-sized companies and the Welsh economy in general. The findings in today’s report will provide a benchmark for furthering our work in this area.”

What do you think? Do you agree with the finding of the report? Do you have broadband connection problems in your area?