Government ‘failing’ on rural broadband
The government’s drive for faster broadband is failing to deliver a better service for businesses in the countryside, rural leaders have warned.
Rural interest groups must come together to push for better broadband, urges a Country Land and Business Association policy paper. The CLA published the document to mark 10 years of lobbying for effective and affordable internet connections for rural communities.
CLA president Harry Cotterell said broadband acted as an economic driver for rural businesses, as well as helping the social development of rural communities. But 15-20% of people in rural areas were still unable to receive anywhere near the government’s benchmark internet speed.
“We have set out our first-ever rural broadband policy because we believe the government must do more to help the countryside. By seeking to form a strategic alliance with other rural interest groups to agree common objectives, we can help to deliver a comprehensive broadband strategy.”
The government wants everyone to have access to a minimum broadband speed of two megabits a second (2mbps). But Mr Cotterell said it was unlikely that the government’s objective for Britain to have the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015 would be realised.
“So, we are calling on the government to step up and agree to a universal service obligation rather than just a commitment. There is no legal sanction behind a universal service commitment – it provides the government with a get-out clause if the benchmark is not achieved.
The policy also calls on the government to provide an appropriate framework allowing rural communities to “piggy-back” on public sector broadband – using other technologies to bridge the rural/urban digital divide until a fixed-line broadband infrastructure is put in place.
Mr Cotterell said: “The CLA advocates a ‘patchwork-quilt’ model whereby other technologies such as wi-fi and satellite become widely available and used. But the government must create the right conditions for this to happen.”
The document, Rural Broadband Fit for Rural Growth, also calls on local authorities to ensure contracts awarded to infrastructure providers include fair compensation provisions for any failure to meet time and coverage requirements.
“The system adopted by the government is too bureaucratic, which has discouraged many of the big market players from taking part,” said Mr Cotterell. “Moreover, payments to providers must be performance-related to ensure a fast and effective broadband service is rolled out to rural areas.”
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