Far more has to be done to look at how access to broadband can be guaranteed for everyone in the country according to recent claims made by the leader of the Scottish Labour party.

A call has been made for further clarification of how government ministers intend to keep their promise of providing everyone in the UK with a broadband connection by Iain Gray, the leader of the Labour party in Scotland.

The view of broadband connections throughout the country has now been claimed by the MSP to be as important as other utilities that homeowners rely upon like electricity and water, and has gone on to advise that the UK could be left at a serious disadvantage is the government failed to provide everyone with an adequate broadband service.

Many people throughout the country would not be able to sign up for “lower priced foods and commodities” if they were not provided with a broadband connection in their home said Mr Gray in a recent interview with a Scottish newspaper.

He went on to add “Fast broadband access is also one of the keys to a modern, prosperous future for Scotland. If we do not move our broadband vision on to the next level now, Scotland risks being left behind.”

A range of informed choices would be made available to households on a number of issues including financial services and shopped if they had access to a broadband service according to the managing director of advice group UK Online Centres, Helen Milner.

Although the government promised that it would provide a broadband connection to every home in the UK by 2012 as part of its Digital Britain report that was released earlier in the year there has yet to be any clear indication of how it will be able to fully cover the more remote and rural parts of the country of which many are located in Scottish regions of the country.

Source – Cable