Scotlands Rural Affairs Secretary Claims UK Gov Lacks Broadband Ambition
Posted: 05th Jul, 2011 By: MarkJ
The Scottish governments Rural Affairs Secretary and MSP for Moray, Richard Lochhead, has warned that a "lack of ambition" on the part of Westminster (UK government) could result in Scotland missing out on the digital revolution and faster broadband internet access services.Lockhead, whom was speaking at last week's parliamentary debate on Rural Connectivity, also called upon Ofcom to force Mobile Broadband operators into boosting their coverage commitment to 90%. At present Scotland's 3G population coverage sits at roughly 66%.
The MSP for Moray, Richard Lochhead, said:
"The UK Government has allocated £530 million to the rollout of next generation broadband for rural areas. We are working hard to secure the best possible share for Scotland from this. We need to ensure that a lack of ambition from the UK Government does not lead to rural Scotland missing out on the digital revolution. This is vitally important to help bring global markets to our doorstep and create new opportunities for rural businesses.
We have urged the UK Government to direct Ofcom to increase the obligation for 3G coverage in Scotland, as a large proportion of the areas currently not covered across Britain are in rural Scotland. We wanted 90 per cent of Scotland to be covered, matched to 90 per cent of the UK. But if that's not immediately achievable, then we at least should have a specific target for coverage in Scotland."
"The UK Government has allocated £530 million to the rollout of next generation broadband for rural areas. We are working hard to secure the best possible share for Scotland from this. We need to ensure that a lack of ambition from the UK Government does not lead to rural Scotland missing out on the digital revolution. This is vitally important to help bring global markets to our doorstep and create new opportunities for rural businesses.
We have urged the UK Government to direct Ofcom to increase the obligation for 3G coverage in Scotland, as a large proportion of the areas currently not covered across Britain are in rural Scotland. We wanted 90 per cent of Scotland to be covered, matched to 90 per cent of the UK. But if that's not immediately achievable, then we at least should have a specific target for coverage in Scotland."
The Conservative MP for Penrith (Cumbria), Rory Stewart, won a similar mobile coverage debate in May 2011 (here) when he called for the mobile coverage commitment to be raised all the way up to 98%, though little progress has been made and Ofcom is understood to be deeply unhappy with the idea.
Rory Stewart said at the end of May 2011:
"A colleague said nothing would happen for fifteen years. The head of OFCOM is angry with me; officials are referring mysteriously to complications with ‘coverage definition’, and ‘the distortion of market diversity’. And the whole thing seems to be slipping out of my hands again.
I am back to writing letters and e-mails and lobbying and pleading with officials and ministers. I think I’ll win this fight, eventually, but parliament has spoken. Who, really, is listening?"
"A colleague said nothing would happen for fifteen years. The head of OFCOM is angry with me; officials are referring mysteriously to complications with ‘coverage definition’, and ‘the distortion of market diversity’. And the whole thing seems to be slipping out of my hands again.
I am back to writing letters and e-mails and lobbying and pleading with officials and ministers. I think I’ll win this fight, eventually, but parliament has spoken. Who, really, is listening?"
The UK government wants 90% of "people in each local authority area" to have access to a superfast (25Mbps+) broadband ISP service by 2015. Meanwhile Scotland's own strategy (here) aims to make next generation broadband available to everybody by 2020, with "significant progress" on this by 2015.
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