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Broadband select committee report fails rural needs The latest Trade and Industry Select Committee report on the UK broadband market fails to take into account the needs of rural communities, warns Mark Hudson, President of the Country Land and Business Association.
'A quarter of the UK's population lives in the countryside, yet this report makes only one mention of delivering broadband to rural areas, and then only of the difficulty of reaching these areas,' says Mark. 'Shouldn't the emphasis be on the urgent need for rural businesses to access broadband, to ensure they remain competitive with their urban counterparts? More and more farms are diversifying into new enterprises, with greater pressure on many businesses to operate via e-mail and the internet. Not only will rural businesses benefit from broadband, but they could well act as the driver for far greater uptake across the UK. 'Given that the Government has agreed to allow rural businesses to 'piggy-back' on its £1billion project to deliver broadband to the public sector, and that infrastructure providers are now setting trigger levels for the vast majority of local telephone exchanges, it is surprising that today's report makes so little mention of rural areas. 'We agree with the report's finding that current alternatives to ADSL (fixed connections) are not ready to be taken up by the majority of consumers. Wireless technology is not yet mature enough and satellite broadband remains expensive. 'The only way for the UK to achieve 100 per cent broadband coverage is through partnerships - where infrastructure providers, communities and the Government find ways to work together to accelerate the roll-out of broadband, bring down prices and reach more remote areas.' The House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee report, 'UK Broadband Market', was published on the 10 February 2003. 10 February 2003 |
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