Rural broadband investment could be stalled

It has been claimed that rural broadband investment could be delayed as a result of different opinions amongst the Labour government and the Conservative Party.

The subject of rural broadband services has become part of a heated debate, with many angry about the lack of broadband access that is to be found in rural areas, which is detrimental to residents and businesses in those areas. The government promised to address the issue of inadequate broadband access in many rural areas of Great Britain as part of its Digital Britain Report, which was released earlier this year.

However, according to one recent report there could be a delay when it comes to investing in broadband for rural areas, and the delay will stem from a difference in opinions between the Labour Government and the Conservative party. The warning about the possible delay was issued by the Broadband Stakeholders Group.

Although there has been a promise by the government to provide universal broadband officials from the Broadband Stakeholders Group have said that the policies of the Labour government and the Conservative Party are very different, and this will make it difficult for the issue to be addressed this side of the general election.

Whilst the Labour government has plans to levy a broadband tax to raise money for broadband investment and start focussing on rural areas straight away the Conservative party wants to scrap the broadband tax and focus more on the broadband infrastructure in big cities before looking at broadband access in more rural areas. An official from the BSG said that the Labour policies represented ‘industrial activism’ whilst the Conservative policies represented ‘market activism’. He said: “If there is a hung parliament, and no resolution to this, then that starts to raise questions.”

Source – Eweek Europe