15 July 2010 | Author: J. Morton Search Copywriter

UK broadband roll-out pushed back to 2015

In a revelation that runs slightly affront to recent news that the government is eager to get people online, the ConLib coalition has pushed back initiatives to provide remote places throughout the UK with broadband by 2012. The new deadline will be 2015.

Tory culture secretary Jeremy Hunt laid the blame on lack of funding for the roll out.

"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," Hunt said at a conference meant to assess Britain's broadband access problems.

"While we will keep working towards that date, we have set ourselves a more realistic target of achieving universal 2Mbps access within the lifetime of this parliament," he said.

The plans were originally enacted by the now-sacked Labour government, and promise to have broadband rolled out to all of Britain at a minimum speed of 2Mb per second. The current government has already thrown out a 50p charge on broadband to pay for fibre-optic cables for faster connections.

Hunt maintained that the speed would still be enforced as the minimum for UK providers when the time came, however.

"By the end of this parliament, this country should boast the best super-fast broadband in Europe and be up there with the very best in the world," Hunt said.

Jillian Pitt, a broadband expert at Consumer Focus, told the Guardian that the announcement was a serious setback for disadvantaged citizens.

"Often people living in these remote communities are amongst the most disadvantaged in our society, so there is also a wider issue about suppliers ensuring that broadband is not only available, but also affordable," she said.

According to research, 160,000 homes are incapable of receiving broadband signal, with about 2 million homes failing to achieve speeds of 2Mb per second.

Hunt, in turn, pushed private business to head the initiative.

"There is currently nothing to stop telecoms or utility companies reaching commercial agreements to share their infrastructure but very few agreements currently exist," he said.