£100 million to fund high-speed broadband in cities

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 29 Nov 2011 at 15:26

The Government will invest £100 million to boost high-speed broadband access in the UK biggest cities - although many already have such services.

As reported yesterday, Chancellor George Osborne has put together an infrastructure investment war chest aimed at boosting the economy.

In his Autumn Statement today, he revealed funding to drive 100Mbits/sec networks and improved wireless technologies. Details remain unclear of what the funding will actually support, as the news comes just weeks after BT and Zen announced 100Mbits/sec fibre-to-the-home services.

“The Government will invest £100 million to create up to ten ‘super-connected cities’ across the UK, with 80-100Mbits/sec broadband and city-wide high-speed mobile connectivity,” the statement read.

“There will be a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises and strategic employment zones to support economic growth," it added. "Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff and London will all receive support from this fund, and a UK-wide competition will decide up to six further cities that will also receive funding.”

There will be a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises and strategic employment zones to support economic growth

The decision is likely to anger rural broadband campaigners, who argue that the UK's cities are already well connected, but Osborne had a sliver of good news for people in outlying areas.

The Government said it would support rural broadband by “opening the £20 million Rural Community Broadband Fund to help ensure more rural homes and businesses receive superfast broadband”. Whether that promise included new funding was unclear at the time of publishing.

According to Osborne, if the scheme is successful, the Government will consider extending it, while the Government was also “considering new approaches to make the roadside telecommunications network available to enable points of access for third party services such as broadband for rural businesses”.