The disconnected: COVID-19 and disparities in access to quality broadband for higher education students

Table 3 Socioeconomic profile of at-risk electoral divisions

ED at-risk measure	ED-level deprivation	Median household income (€)	PC ownership (proportion)
Low coverage EDs	− 4.70 (4.96)	45,245 (9,531)	0.66 (0.07)
Very low coverage EDs	− 4.90 (4.89)	44,639 (9,096)	0.65 (0.07)**
Minimal coverage EDs	− 5.31 (4.83)	43,890 (9,333)	0.64 (0.07)***
No coverage EDs	− 6.30 (5.58)***	41,207 (10,019)***	0.63 (0.09)***
All poor coverage (at-risk) EDs	− 5.10 (5.06)	44,241 (9,588)	0.65 (0.08)
All non-poor coverage EDs	− 4.97 (7.39)	44,693 (12,835)	0.67 (0.09)
All EDs	− 5.03 (6.39)	44,477 (11,403)	0.66 (0.09)

Low coverage denotes between 25 and 50% of residential addresses in ED have access to high speed broadband services as per National Broadband Plan map, very low coverage denotes between 10 and 25%, minimal coverage denotes between 0 and 10%, and no coverage denotes no residential addresses in ED have access to high speed broadband services. Poor coverage is defined as fewer than 50% of residential addresses in an ED having access to high speed broadband services. The table also presents results from two-sample t-tests with unequal variances of the difference in means between at-risk EDs and non-poor coverage EDs. ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05
Source: Analysis of data from HEA, GeoDirectory, NBP, and CSO