Hunt speaks out over Tory broadband plans

In a recent speech the Conservative Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has spoken out about the party’s plans with regards to universal broadband.

For some time now the Conservative Party has been slating the plans by the Labour Government to levy a six pounds a year broadband tax on consumers in order to help fund the rollout of superfast broadband in rural areas and work towards plans for universal broadband access. In a recent speech the Conservative Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has spoken out about the Tory Party’s own plans when it comes to universal broadband in Britain.

Hunt said that his party would focus on getting super fast broadband rolled out in major cities across the nation before addressing rural areas. He also confirmed that if the Tory Party comes into power in the next election next year it will be scrapping the plans that have been launched by the Labour government to charge six pounds a year by way of a broadband tax.

He said that focussing on super fast broadband services for major cities first was the most effective way of achieving broadband services for all. He added that once this had been done it would be more financially viable and profitable for telecommunications companies to roll out super fast broadband services to rural areas.

Hunt also said that he was all for bridging the digital divide between urban and rural areas, but that the Labour government was addressing the issue the wrong way around by tackling rural areas before looking at major cities. He added that a potential solution to speeding up investment in to next generation broadband was by forcing BT to open up its ducts so that rival provider could lay fibre networks.

Source – Guardian