Fury as Government scraps 2Mbits/sec broadband pledge

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 15 Jul 2010 at 15:52

Rural campaigners have reacted angrily to the news that the Government has scrapped plans to deliver a universal broadband service level of 2Mbits/sec by 2012.

Instead, the coalition said it would aim to deliver 2Mbits/sec to the whole of Britain by the end of this parliament, which means rural and urban areas with poor coverage may have to wait until 2015.

“We're extremely disappointed and surprised that the Government has made this decision – they are basically saying it's potentially a further three years to wait and it will just widen the rural-urban digital divide,” said Charles Trotman, head of rural business development at the Country Land and Business Association (CLA).

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

“And even then it's only a verbal commitment and not a legal obligation so they could push it back again."

Ironically, the decision was announced at an industry summit designed to work out a path forward for super-fast broadband, but it looks like many areas will have to wait years just to get what the Government accepts is a minimum requirement.

“Last month, I announced that we were supporting a universal service level of 2Mbits/sec as the very minimum that should be available,” said Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport.

"I have looked at the provision the [previous] 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 2Mbits/sec access within the lifetime of this parliament.”

The decision comes just weeks after Hunt boasted that he'd found additional cash to plug Britain's broadband notspots, and will come as a major blow to the one in ten households that last year's Digital Britain report identified as being unable to receive a service of 2Mbits/sec.

With more than 20m homes is the UK, that means more than two million households are unable to perform many basic web activities, such as streaming media at a reasonable quality.