Core Tory voters "the last to get super-fast broadband"

 

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By Hani Megerisi

Posted on 15 Mar 2010 at 15:02

Core Conservative voters will be among the last to receive super-fast internet under the Tories' broadband policy.

The funds required for a fibre broadband rollout to rural areas would be too high for private investment, according to telecoms analysts Point Topic. Required subsidies could be as high as £1 million for certain constituencies where the population is sparsely distributed.

In Norway, where there is very low population density, people dig their own ditches, and fibre broadband is much wider spread there than in the UK

This means that under the terms of the Tory Technology Manifesto, voters in rural Tory heartlands such as Kent and Devon, would be among the last to receive super-fast internet, if they got it at all.

“I don’t think it would work for a second,” said Tim Johnson, chief analyst at Point Topic, arguing that it isn't economically viable for firms to invest the money in certain areas. “The examples that the Tories refer to [for private investment working] such as Singapore and South Korea both have massive government subsidies.”

“When you get to population densities you have to look at things a different way. When you go into the open country there are farmhouses, little groups of settlements and lots of empty space,” Johnson said, highlighting the expense of laying fibre from the exchange to remote houses.

Public money?

While the Conservatives’ route is to gain support from private investment, with plans to add public money if necessary, the Labour party are seeking to gain funds from a 50p "broadband tax". They say this will raise between £150 million to £175 million a year.

Point Topic estimates that annual funding of between £130 million to £170 million will be needed for a fibre rollout to 90% of homes and businesses, but said sweeping policies weren't the answer.

“You need a case-by-case strategy not generalised statements,” Johnson argued, adding that schemes such as allocating per-property funds or incentivising self-help schemes could be the way forward. “In Norway, where there is very low population density, people dig their own ditches, and fibre broadband is much wider spread there than in the UK."