UK Poll Calls on Government to Boost Broadband Funds for Rural Areas

The results from 1045 respondents to ISPreview.co.uk’s latest monthly reader survey has found that 80.8% would like to see the government put more public money into deploying superfast broadband around the United Kingdom (up from 68.8% two years ago) and 62.5% said the effort should re-focus on connecting rural areas first.

At present the government is spending around £680m to help make superfast broadband (25-30Mbps+) services available to 90% of people by 2015 (includes the £150m+ Urban Broadband Fund), yet this will still leave the last 10% with a minimum download speed “commitment” of at least 2Mbps (Megabits per second).

The survey also asked respondents whether or not the country should set an improved national minimum broadband speed target and the vast majority agreed (only 2.8% supported the current 2Mbps target).

Should the UK boost public funding for its superfast broadband roll-out?
Yes – 80.8%
No – 19.1%

Should the UK re-focus to deliver superfast broadband to the most rural areas first (the last 10%)?
Yes – 62.5%
No – 37.4%

What should the national MINIMUM broadband speed target for 100% of the UK be set at?
25Mbps+ – 31.5%
10Mbps+ – 27.5%
100Mbps+ – 25.5%
5Mbps+ – 8.8%
Do not define by speed – 3.6%
2Mbps+ (current policy) – 2.8%

It’s no surprise to find that most people would like to see the country set its minimum broadband speed target at a level that is significantly above today’s 2Mbps figure. Unfortunately, short of an extra multi-billion pound investment from the public purse, it’s perhaps unrealistic to expect some of the more dramatic speeds as a new minimum (e.g. 100Mbps+).

Never the less it’s already clear that a minimum speed of 2Mbps is fast becoming the modern day equivalent of a dialup connection and already struggles to handle the latest content (e.g. HD video streams). Ofcom itself recently suggested (here) that a minimum of 8-10Mbps might be more appropriate, before adding that even this was “unlikely” to be sufficient come 2020.

So far the government has yet to make a firm commitment but there have been some hints that the targets may be re-assessed in the future and if so then we’d tend to agree with Ofcom’s suggestion, which is perhaps what we should have been using from the very start.

This month’s new survey simply asks how would you rate the quality and price of your current ISP? Vote Here.