Ministers look towards broadband access in every home

Ministers will be investigating the possibility of every household in the Britain being connected to a superfast broadband service as they are forced to face concerns that both educational and financial benefits are being missed by many offline families.

This month saw the appointment of former Number 10 aide, Lord Carter as communications officer and he is looking to force phone operators to do more to bring broadband access to every home and is even considering introducing it as a legal right.

Lord carter said that “increasing broadband access is a big issue” and announced a six month Digital Britain review would begin to look at media and communication policy the government is using. The number of households that are currently not connected to a fast internet service stands at 42 percent.

In addition to the £300 million that was announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to help connect one million families with children at school age by 2012 he also mentioned that to help boost the number of connections public money could be made available.
The peer, who was previously the CEO for Ofcom, the regulator for communications said “Clearly, this review is only just beginning, but you’ve already seen the Government inject public money in that specific targeted instance.”

Many homes that do not have fast and convenient internet access may risk losing out as Britain already has high levels of internet usage compared to many other European countries. Rates of online shopping in the UK are already much higher than anywhere else in Europe with virtual till making up one pound of every eight spent and this is due to much lower costs online.

The Prime Minister picked up on this point and gave his personal endorsement on the review by Lord Carter, saying “OECD tests show that students with one computer at home perform significantly better than those without. More than 90 per cent of jobs now require ICT skills. And families able to e-retail could save nearly £300 per year.”

The introduction of a broadband ‘universal service obligation’ was also on the agenda and was a measure Lord Carter said is “definitely something we would look at”. This would effectively mean that the current legal obligation for BT to provide a basic internet service and low cost telephone to every home would be extended.