Posted: 13th Jun, 2003 By: MarkJ
The World Land Trust has today spoken of its frustration at how a lack of rural broadband access has affected its charity. The technology can produce significant cost savings, but not if you're based in the countryside:
The World Land Trust has always been at the forefront of new technology. One of the first charities to adopt the use of Fax and Email to communicate with its projects around the world, use of communications technology has allowed the trust to base its office outside London, and make substantial savings on its administration costs.
"As an international charity based in Halesworth, we are very dependent on the Internet. In fact one of the reasons we have been able to locate here was the introduction of modern telecommunication facilities. But now these are lagging far behind and we are having problems." John Burton, World Land Trust
However the benefits of being based in the countriside location are being let down by a lack of affordable broadband. In a week when the government has made a great deal of fuss about the UK having 2 million broadband subscribers, rural Britain is increasingly being left behind. The government also has no plans to subsidise broadband services to ensure they are available in remote areas of the UK, E-commerce Minister Stephen Timms has insisted.More @
The Environmental News Network.