UK Government lays out fast net plan
The UK's culture secretary has been talking tough on broadband in his first major speech on the issue. Jeremy Hunt said that the previous government's commitment to a "paltry 2Mbps" (megabits per second) universal net speed was "pitifullly unambitious". He added that it was "a scandal" that nearly three million households cannot access even this speed. He said that his goal was to provide Britain with the "best superfast broadband network in Europe".
Details on how this would be achieved were scant but could include new regulation to force water, gas and electricity companies to open up their ducts. "The biggest cost involved in rolling out new fibre optic networks is digging up the roads," he said. "Cut these costs and, straight away, investing in superfast broadband becomes a substantially more attractive proposition," he added.
To use a football metaphor, Mr Hunt is in the position of the manager of West Ham, promising to win the Premier League within five years, without a big budget for new players. He welcomed Ofcom's proposals to open up access to BT's ducts and telegraph poles. Mr Hunt acknowledged that fast, reliable broadband is "increasingly essential". He said that a national superfast network could add £18bn to the GDP and create at least 60,000 new jobs.
Source : BBC Technology News