Posted: 20th May, 2010 By: MarkJ

In a move that will surprise absolutely nobody. The new UK coalition government, which is made up of Conservative and Liberal Democrat political party members, has officially adopted the Tory solution to deploying superfast next generation fibre optic broadband services around the country.
Sadly anybody hoping for details will be disappointed. The finalised coalition pledge (
published today) is softer on detail than a fluffy white rabbits bottom. It confirms that the government will use part of the BBC's TV Licence fee to fund the project, albeit assuming that the private sector has failed to get the job done by around 2012.
Government Statement on Superfast Broadband
We will introduce measures to ensure the rapid roll-out of superfast broadband across the country. We will ensure that BT and other infrastructure providers allow the use of their assets to deliver such broadband, and we will seek to introduce superfast broadband in remote areas at the same time as in more populated areas. If necessary, we will consider using the part of the TV licence fee that is supporting the digital switchover to fund broadband in areas that the market alone will not reach.
We note from past comments that the Conservative's want BT and other infrastructure providers to open access into their underground cable ducts. However some ISPs already fear that BT and others would simply peg the costs too high and thus outweigh any potential benefits.
The BBC Licence fee's
Digital Switchover budget (3.5%) is worth around £130m per year, which might not be enough. The Conservatives had originally pledged to fund a rollout of 100Mbps capable services "
across most of the population" by 2017. Unfortunately we still do not know what "most" means.
As it stands the cost of deploying fibre optic lines for smaller independent ISPs, especially in remote and rural areas, is simply too high. A better way to tackle the problem would be to reduce or even cut the Valuation Office Agency's (VOA) tax on active fibre lines (Fibre Tax). The Conservatives had promised a review of this but we've yet to see any further movement.
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) President, William Worsley, said:
"The Coalition's Programme for Government is full of good intentions to promote and enhance the rural economy and natural environment that, on the whole, we at the CLA agree with. However, these good intentions come at a price. The Coalition Programme is worryingly silent on how these promises will be paid for."
Elsewhere there is once again no mention of the LibDem's pledge to repeal the controversial Digital Economy Act (2010). The final coalition agreement effectively amalgamates both manifestos, so this could be taken as a sign that concerns over the act have been sidelined.