Posted: 14th Apr, 2010 By: MarkJ

Unified Communications specialists
Outsourcery has called on the UK government to quickly establish a NEW
Broadband Grant system whereby businesses can receive government subsidised discounts for ordering fibre optic private circuits from BT , Virgin Media and other independent UK ISPs.
Mark Seemann, Product Strategy and Development Director at Outsourcery, said:
"The government’s attitude to high speed broadband to rural areas is ridiculous when you consider over a third of the country will suffer, and it is simply not good enough to push the burden to fall back on to businesses – in effect causing a rural/urban digital divide - which is strange for a government preaching equality!
Many SMEs, which are the engine of the British economy, are based in rural areas and through the government’s current policy will be excluded from the benefits of superfast broadband. This will have serious implications not just for the recovery but also the future of Britain in a global economy."
Outsourcery comments that the short-term plan to offer all homes and businesses in the UK a minimum speed of 2Mbps (megabits per second) by 2012 is not enough. It warns that businesses cannot afford to wait the 5-10 years needed to build a true next generation network.
Mark Seemann continues:
"What is now required is a carefully thought out strategy by the next government to encompass both the short and long term plan to make the UK’s Broadband infrastructure competitive and fit for purpose. Due to the time scales required to roll-out high speed 100mb broadband services to the UK (estimates from 5 to 10 years are being quoted), a short term plan to give UK’s businesses superfast broadband is critical.
The most effective method of delivering a short term plan is to establish a Broadband Grant system whereby businesses can receive government subsidised discounts for ordering fibre optic private circuits from BT, Virgin and other Independent Service providers.
These private circuits are available now but the cost of installation and on-going rental usually place these out of the reach of small and medium sized businesses. A grant system would allow UK businesses to benefit from 100mb broadband now whilst the new national broadband infrastructure is being built."
However, even if such a system were put in place, it would still take time to establish and build the networks that such a grant might support. Presently the future direction of UK government policy toward next generation broadband networks remains shrouded in a climate of deep political uncertainty; pending the outcome of May's general election.
On the other hand similar schemes were used in the past, often as part of public/private partnerships (PPP's). They helped to rollout existing broadband services around the country but were usually used to fund work by BT and or other established operators. It's highly likely that something similar will be done for fibre optic broadband services too.