CLA not happy with government's broadband plans

According to a recent report officials from the Country Land and Business Association have issues with the broadband plans that have been put into place by the Labour government.

The controversial broadband tax that is being charged to those that have landlines in the UK has been in the headlines a fair bit recently, but the Labour government, which has proposed the tax, has defended it, stating that it is a small price for consumers to pay to ensure that broadband services are more easily accessible and available in hard to reach areas that may currently be missing out.

The plans of the Labour government are to provide around ninety percent of the country with higher speed broadband services by 2017. The money from the broadband tax, which will cost consumers fifty pence a month or possibly more depending on the number of landlines that they have, is set to raise a billion pounds, which will then be invested in rolling out next generation broadband across the country. However, officials from the Country Land and Business Association have said that these plans do not go far enough.

The association has stated that whilst it is all well and good that ninety percent of the country will have access to higher speed broadband by 2017 the remaining ten percent is likely to continue suffering. An official from the group stated: “The CLA has been calling for Government investment into the UK broadband infrastructure since 2002 and welcomed Lord Mandelson’s acknowledgement that without direct Government investment people in rural areas will lose out once again.”

She added: “However, as the Government itself admits, only nine-tenths of the country will benefit by 2017. What will happen to the remaining 10 per cent who are inevitably going to be in remote rural areas?”

Source – Evesham Journal