The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, warned:

"Local authorities and the devolved administrations will need to provide the remaining funding from their own resources, European programmes or other funding sources."

Avanti's Statement to Government MP's Today

"We greatly appreciate the candour of the Secretary of State's statement on the challenges of rural broadband. Avanti agrees that the Government does not have the funding (and nor should it) to deliver the luxury of subsidised fibre broadband to all, which in our opinion would cost tens of billions of pounds, and is best achieved through the proper operation of supply and demand.

The good news is that the British Government has already partnered with Avanti to create a new generation of satellites which can provide up to 10mb services to ANYONE in the UK today, regardless of location. Thousands of British families are already experiencing the benefits of the Avanti service, launched in April 2011.

In order to avoid social exclusion at the margins of society, Avanti is pleased to work with local and national government to ensure that the neediest members of our rural economies get service as soon as possible, and is pleased to work with the new BDUK framework announced in May which will allocate specific funding for satellite services for the most remote 2% of UK households. We encourage all local authorities to prioritise this, so that the greatest need is tackled first."