Posted: 16th Jul, 2010 By: MarkJ
Consumer Focus (CF), a statutory organisation campaigning for a fair deal for consumers in the UK, and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) have both sounded a mix of "
shock" and disappointment today as they reacted to yesterdays news that the government had delayed its universal 2Mbps broadband for all target (USC) from 2012 to 2015.
The unexpected announcement came at yesterdays internet industry event in London, which was being held by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK). The UK Secretary of State for Culture, the Olympics Media and Sport (DCMS), Jeremy Hunt, said he was "
not convinced that there is sufficient funding in place" to achieve the goal in time (
yesterdays news in full).
Jillian Pitt, Broadband Expert at Consumer Focus, said:
"We are, however, disappointed that the time-table to provide a universal 2mbps broadband connection has been pushed back to 2015. Also, the Coalition Agreement itself acknowledged there are areas where the market alone will not reach. We would like to see a clear Government plan on what happens when this is the case. We would like to be reassured the estimated £250 million under-spend from the Digital Switchover budget will be enough to tackle this issue.
Often people living in these remote communities are amongst the most disadvantaged in our society, so there is also a wider issue about suppliers ensuring that broadband is not only available, but also affordable."
However Consumer Focus did welcome the governments more generalised "
high-level commitment" towards ensuring that "
broadband reaches rural and remote areas", allowing everyone to reap the "
huge benefits being online can bring". The CLA took a slightly harder line.
CLA President, William Worsley, said:
"This setback comes at a time when rural Britain is desperately in need of effective and affordable broadband. It will seriously compromise the ability of the rural economy to succeed in the future.
Of course we are living in straitened times. However, without universal broadband it will become far harder for rural business to compete effectively with businesses in urban areas, many of which already have access to far faster speeds than two Mbps.
The Government needs to recognise that broadband can act as a fundamental driver in propelling the UK out of its current financial situation. This will be put in jeopardy if we have to wait an additional three years before everyone can gain adequate broadband coverage.
In his speech, Mr Hunt mentioned the increased use of Government services online which he believed could lead to savings of at least £1 billion. Yet the one fifth of people living in rural areas who have no broadband access are unable to benefit from this."
Few people expected the news but we were not surprised by it, especially given the recent political upheaval and delays in releasing and re-farming crucial Mobile Broadband spectrum. Jeremy Hunt's "
lack of cash" reasoning was perhaps the most politically safe excuse to use during times of economic hardship, rather than the most honest.
Mind you that 2012 target was always ambitious, we're already less than half way to 2011 and nothing has happened yet. Expecting the government to provide a plan and then get it all fixed in a little over 12 months time was beginning to appear quite unrealistic. Furthermore much of the £200-300m that has already been found is mostly for super-fast broadband projects and the bulk will not be free until 2012 anyway.
It should be noted that the new government has not said they would stop at the current level of cash and are likely to keep extracting from the BBC TV Licence fees 3.5% Digital Switchover budget even after 2012 (worth anything from £130m to £150m depending on future rises and how you quantify it). If they used Labours old 2017 target instead of the perhaps less realistic 2015 one then that might just be enough to do the job, though we do stress the word "might".