Irrespective of all that, we have summarised an ordered list of potential solutions that stand the best chance of being used/adopted to help solve the country's Broadband Digital Speed Divide between those who have fast speeds and those who do not. Some of these will need public money and others might not. This should not be taken as a complete list, merely a generalisation of potential solutions that have been mooted before.

A. Mobile Broadband Liberalisation and Expansion (HIGHLY LIKELY)

In the future many more people are bound to gain Mobile Broadband access thanks to a number of initiatives by both the past and present governments. Firstly, existing 2G - 900MHz and 1800MHz - radio spectrum (voice calls) will be liberalised for use with 3G Mobile Broadband services by the end of 2011. This will expand 3G coverage and make it cheaper to maintain.

Secondly, the existing 800MHz band (currently used for analogue TV services) will be switched off in 2012 and, alongside 2.6GHz (2500-2690MHz), should be re-farmed for use by future Mobile Broadband technologies. This will again assist in improving both 3G coverage and speed. In theory anybody who can currently only get a basic 2G voice service should in the future be able to get Mobile Broadband too.

These measures are almost certain to be carried through, although it could be late-2012 or 2013 before consumers around the UK are able to benefit from better Mobile Broadband coverage and faster speeds.

D. Local Fibre Optic Broadband Infrastructure Subsidies / Improvement (HIGHLY LIKELY)

It is expected, or hoped, that the government will provide some degree of financial support for local community initiatives that seek to broadband enable remote towns and villages with fibre optic based solutions. This could be partial Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) style solutions, full Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) methods or FiWi, which uses a fixed wireless (Wi-Fi/WiMAX) link to distribute "super-fast" broadband from a fibre optic line situated further away.

There are already many examples where schemes using these methods have been successful in the UK, some of which required no public money whatsoever. Several operators and ISPs, including Fibrestream (NextGenUs), Rutland Telecom and Vtesse Broadband have already become experts at delivering related services to small villages.

Villages that hope to benefit from this would be well advised to lobby their local council and begin a pro-active investigation as soon as possible. Presenting a united front with a pre-established amount of customers is a very attractive proposition for a potential supplier, although you'll need more than a handful of homes to join for it to be economically viable; each location has its own unique challenges (some areas might cost only £20k to enable, while others might need £200k!).

B. Satellite Subsidy (HIGH - MODERATE LIKELYHOOD)

As per our earlier description, Satellite services are seen as somewhat of a "quick fix" for reaching the most remote UK towns and villages. They are far from being a Next Generation Access (NGA) solution like fibre optic broadband but could still play a vital role in connecting areas that might otherwise be forced to wait another 5-10 years+ for a better solution.