MPs: Government must subsidise rural broadband

By Graeme Wearden, ZDNet.co.uk, 15 July, 2003 11:48

NEWS

The government's rural broadband strategy has been slammed by a committee of MPs, who have demanded that greater efforts be made to make high-speed Internet services available across the whole of the UK. In a report published on Tuesday, the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs condemned the fact that many rural areas can't get broadband today and appear to have little hope of getting it in the near future, at a time when broadband take-up is booming in urban areas. "We believe that the Government urgently needs to close the divide. We recommend that the Government now commit itself to ensuring that broadband is made available to all areas of the United Kingdom according to a defined timetable," said the report, titled "Broadband in rural areas". The MPs have recommended that the government should spend public money to make broadband available in places where it isn't economically viable for a telco to build high-speed networks. The government has shown a marked reluctance to go down the road of subsidising broadband rollout, insisting that market forces alone will suffice. However, this argument has not found favour with the select committee. "There is a proportion of the countryside -- generally the most rural and remote areas -- where the provision of broadband cannot reasonably be left to the marketplace," said the report. "In order not to disadvantage such areas, intervention is essential." The committee went on to recommend that the Government rapidly identify those areas in which its intervention is needed. It must, said the committee, "develop policies, in conjunction with Regional Development Agencies and local authorities, which ensure that broadband is made accessible in remote areas; and back those policies with adequate funds. It should, for example, make specific funds available under the England Rural Development Programme to subsidise the cost of broadband in the most remote areas." It is unclear to what extent today's broadband divide can be bridged. Last week BT effectively drew the line when it announced another 500 trigger levels for local exchanges, taking the total number of un-hit triggers to almost 800. If all these are achieved, then ADSL will be available to 90 percent of the population BT is unlikely to set many more trigger levels as it is simply too expensive to upgrade the remaining local exchanges, the telco has said. Last week's Rural and Regional Broadband conference heard that wireless technologies offer the best hope of closing the broadband divide, but that backhaul -- the cost of connecting a local network to the Internet -- is still a major cost. In 2001, the government committed £30m to fund rural broadband schemes. Closing the divide completely, though, as the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs demands, will cost many times more. The committee has also proposed that the House of Commons debate the following resolution: "That this House believes that affordable and reliable broadband access should be made available to rural communities as soon as possible; and calls on the Government to develop a strategy which sets out the funding to be made available and the steps to be taken, according to a clear timetable, to make broadband accessible to all." Click here to read the full report.

See the Broadband News Section for the latest on cable modems, ADSL, satellite and other high-speed access technologies, including a comprehensive guide to the best deals out there. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

Make that 13 people now - I got refused today at Manchester airport. I thought I was up to date on this legislation - I knew of the EU ruling from...

1 hour ago by bootlegger on UK airport body scans will not be opt out

Don't forget to check out apps like GoodReader or SlideShark either, they're indispensible for people on the go in presentation situations. Best...

4 hours ago by tinycg on Four top iPad apps for people on the move

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

9 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

18 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

1 day ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

1 day ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

1 day ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

2 days ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

2 days ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 days ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

2 days ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

2 days ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

2 days ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

MPs: Government must subsidise rural broadband

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Aeroplane broadband is cleared for take-off

Broadband supremo calls for grass-roots revolution

BT defines the broadband divide

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in IT Strategy

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

PHP Web Developer - html, css, javascript

Java Developer, Online Gaming, London

Quant Dev, Hedge Fund, FX, Excel VBA

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Business of IT / IT Strategy

MPs: Government must subsidise rural broadband

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in IT Strategy

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features