Fibrestream ( NextGenUs ), a community network specialist in Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband ISP solutions, has warned that the UK governments attempt to help rural areas get online with "super-fast" internet connectivity could also be directly distorting the market.

At present the government's Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) department has set aside £530m until 2015 (rising to £830m by 2017) to help the country become "the best broadband network in Europe". This includes deploying super-fast solutions into many remote and rural areas. It will also be used to make sure that everybody has access to a minimum broadband download speed of 2Mbps by 2015.

Fibrestream, which was recently refused an invite to the governments Fibre Tax discussion (note: delayed due to snow), admits that the drive to improve our national broadband network has helped to build momentum and grow interest, which they claim is despite Ofcom's (regulator) "mixed record of success" on protecting UK consumers from monopoly abuse. However there have been other, apparently unintended and less desirable, consequences of the government's big broadband push.


The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, disagrees and has apparently taken the not unreasonable viewpoint that "the case for market distortion [has] not yet [been] proven".


Later today Jeremy Hunt is expected to outline how Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) will achieve its many broadband commitments, which will hopefully include further information about its procurement rules. Major operators like BT are already planning to bid for a significant slice of public funds. Hopefully smaller providers also have their own projects priced and ready to submit.