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Rural campaigners blast BT but then get £530m government fibre boost
22 Oct 2010 | 09.27 Europe/London
Rural broadband campaigners at the CLA have had a mixed week, first blasting BT for the way it is gauging demand for fibre as being biased against countryside communities before going on to celebrate £530m of government funding for rural fibre.
As revealed last week in SamKnows, a recent competition by BT to find out where demand for fibre was at its highest, so it could pick the most popular locations to roll out BT Infinity to, was designed to exclude small communities. The competition requires at least 1,000 households to sign up to register their interest in fibre for an exchange to be considered in the competition. This, obviously, rules out many rural communities who may not even have 1,000 homes on their exchange, let alone 1,000 who would take the time to enter a competition.
The Association summed up the competition “will do very little to help the ‘Final Third’ of the UK without adequate access to broadband”.
Rural fibre boost
Then, in the Comprehensive Spending Review, in which the coalition Government reduced government spending to help cut the UK’s deficit, the CLA claimed a victory in its campaign to get superfast broadband to rural areas as the Chancellor, George Osborne, promised £530m to help push fibre to the final third.
CLA President William Worsley said: “Broadband is the key to unlocking the potential of the rural economy.
“With savings of some £1 billion a year expected through greater online Government services, it is critical that everyone has access to an adequate broadband service. We look forward to hearing more about the detailed allocation of funds and how these will be implemented.”
“The CLA suggests a series of community broadband grants made available at parish level. With the right funding in place, a proper infrastructure can be provided by the communities themselves by putting the Government’s localism agenda into practice.”
As revealed last week in SamKnows, a recent competition by BT to find out where demand for fibre was at its highest, so it could pick the most popular locations to roll out BT Infinity to, was designed to exclude small communities. The competition requires at least 1,000 households to sign up to register their interest in fibre for an exchange to be considered in the competition. This, obviously, rules out many rural communities who may not even have 1,000 homes on their exchange, let alone 1,000 who would take the time to enter a competition.
The Association summed up the competition “will do very little to help the ‘Final Third’ of the UK without adequate access to broadband”.
Rural fibre boost
Then, in the Comprehensive Spending Review, in which the coalition Government reduced government spending to help cut the UK’s deficit, the CLA claimed a victory in its campaign to get superfast broadband to rural areas as the Chancellor, George Osborne, promised £530m to help push fibre to the final third.
CLA President William Worsley said: “Broadband is the key to unlocking the potential of the rural economy.
“With savings of some £1 billion a year expected through greater online Government services, it is critical that everyone has access to an adequate broadband service. We look forward to hearing more about the detailed allocation of funds and how these will be implemented.”
“The CLA suggests a series of community broadband grants made available at parish level. With the right funding in place, a proper infrastructure can be provided by the communities themselves by putting the Government’s localism agenda into practice.”