NPA Data Science: Level 6 assessment exemplar

How do we make sure everyone in Scotland as fast internet access?

The Scottish Government has committed to having superfast broadband access to all by the end of 2021. Grants are in place for suppliers to help deliver this mission.

CityFibre are the UK’s largest alternative provider of full fibre broadband networks. They would like to identify the postcodes within their current network regions that are most in need of access to full fibre broadband with a view to providing this at a lower cost.

Three CityFibre engineers looking at plans on a street while an engineer is looking at telephone wires

Your Challenge:

CityFibre have approached you to help them with the data analysis behind this real business problem.

The Coronavirus lockdowns have shown us how important it is for everyone in Scotland to have access to fast internet. Your challenge is to use the data from CityFibre to work out a good strategy for a broadband provider.

Which postcode areas have the biggest “need” for broadband access? The company can lay a limited amount of fibre cable. Your job is to decide which streets they should prioritise.

Get started:

These materials are available in both Python and R

About this resource:

This exemplar is for for the National Progression Award in Data Science at Level 6 and includes worked answers and example output.  It has been developed by Jo Watts at Effini and supported by the Data Education in Schools team using data supplied by CityFibre.  Many thanks to CityFibre and Effini for their support.

Green Cityfibre logo        Effini logo with purple elephant