Is PM planning to pay for fibre broadband?

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 5 Jan 2009 at 07:44

The Prime Minister has announced sketchy plans to invest in Britain's broadband network.

The Government has so far resisted calls for public investment in next-generation broadband.

But Gordon Brown says investment in Britain's "digital infrastructure" will form part of his new economic stimulus package.

"When we talk about the roads and the bridges and the railways that were built in previous times - and those were anti-recession measures taken to help people through difficult times - you could [by comparison] talk about the digital infrastructure and that form of communications revolution at a period when we want to stimulate the economy," Brown tells The Observer. "It's a very important thing."

The Government has yet to announce details of how any investment would be spent. But any money could be used to help lay a fibre broadband network across the country.

BT has announced plans for a £1.5 billion fibre rollout, that will see up to 40Mb/sec broadband services brought to 10m British homes over the next three years. However, the company is facing shareholder opposition to its fibre rollout and claims it will only proceed with the investment if regulatory conditions are favourable.

Any Government investment in fibre broadband would run contrary to advice delivered in a Government-commissioned report into next-generation access, which concluded that the case for public investment was "weak".