{"id":11346,"date":"2016-03-15T16:40:51","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T16:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=11346"},"modified":"2016-03-15T17:17:25","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T17:17:25","slug":"ed-vaizey-mp-praises-b4rn-alternative-1gbps-fttp-broadband-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2016\/03\/ed-vaizey-mp-praises-b4rn-alternative-1gbps-fttp-broadband-network.html","title":{"rendered":"Ed Vaizey MP Praises “fantastic” B4RN 1Gbps Rural Broadband Network"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government’s Digital Economy Minister, Ed Vaizey, has turned a veiled criticism of Lancashire\u2019s (England) Broadband Delivery UK<\/a> programme (Superfast Lancashire<\/a>) into some welcome praise for the alternative and community-built B4RN<\/a> (Broadband 4 the Rural North<\/em>) project.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mr Vaizey was speaking as part of a Business, Innovation and Skills<\/a> (BIS) debate in the House of Commons this afternoon when he made the comment in response to criticism from Cat Smith<\/strong>, the Labour MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood.<\/p>\n

Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab):<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many of my rural and farming constituents are looking to diversify, and are setting up their own businesses and working from home. Frustrated with the wait for BT<\/a> to deliver superfast broadband, many have been left in the position of digging their own trenches and working with [B4RN<\/a>] to deliver superfast broadband so that they can run their businesses. What message does the Minister have for my constituents who have been left in this situation?<\/p>\n

Mr Vaizey replied:<\/strong><\/p>\n

My message to the hon. Lady, as opposed to her constituents, is that people have to make up their mind. One moment I am being berated because BT<\/a> has a monopoly and now I am being berated because people are choosing a different provider. Broadband 4 the Rural North is a fantastic community broadband programme. We encourage lots of competition for BT<\/a> and I am pleased that B4RN<\/a> is thriving and providing an excellent service to her constituents.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The alternative B4RN<\/a> network and its many off-shoots, which have had to repeatedly fight against BT’s encroachment on to their patch and cope with a difficult local authority (example<\/a>), has now connected well over 1,600 homes and businesses to their community funded and built ultrafast pure fibre optic broadband network; the next goal is to connect 5,000 premises<\/strong>.<\/p>\n