Broadband Target Scrapped

The great British broadband saga continues to wobble along like a wagon with only three wheels.

And the latest nail in the broadband coffin has been hit firmly home by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt who says that Labour’s previous boast for access to fast broadband networks in all homes by 2012 is “impractical.”

The news that the UK target for universal access to high-speed networks has been pushed back to 2015 was dished out by the Minister at a recent shindig for Telecom operators.

He said: “I have looked at the provision the government had made to achieve this by 2012. And I'm afraid that I am not convinced that there is sufficient funding in place. So, while we will keep working towards that date, we have set ourselves a more realistic target of achieving universal 2Mbps access within the lifetime of this parliament.”

It’s a common cry of the new coalition, that everything that Labour had intended was a pipe dream and now, reality having hit, there’s no money in the pot.

What it will do of course is perpetuate the great UK broadband divide which will see urban users win with speeds of comfortably up to 20Mbps and 40Mbps, whereas those homes and businesses in the rural areas will have to struggle with less than 2Mbps.

It’s good that 99% of homes can get a form of broadband connection, but not so good that around 11% (around two million homes) cannot get much more than the slowest speed. What’s more, some 160,000 homes – in remote and rural areas – still fail to get any broadband service at all, over ten years since its introduction.

The previous administration had earmarked £250m for the pledge to achieve universal service obligation and had come up with the idea of a levy per phone line (around 50 pence) to pay for the introduction of super-fast broadband networks in the countryside. This was shot down in flames in the emergency budget.

So, even though in this time of austerity the idea of a new tax to pay for super-fast broadband networks may have looked a little like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand, many observers can’t help thinking it was still a good plan.

Super-fast broadband is the way of the future; it will open up commerce and help the country fight its way back out of the recession. Wait too long and the UK will find itself way behind what is nowadays a global market with companies and individuals competing on a vast international scale.

The UK cannot miss the super-fast broadband train; it’s that simple.