UK Rural Broadband Moving Slow

A major share of UK homes either do not have any internet access or have low speed internet. Most of these places are outside the city limits and rural areas, where proper infrastructure for a decent broadband connection is non-existent.

A pressure group after undertaking a study found that four pilot schemes, taken up to bring fast broadband to some of UK most rural areas, have been stalled. These projects are said to be a part of a wider outlook by the government to improve the communications infrastructure present in these isolated areas.

According to the Countryside Alliance, four schemes which were announced by Chancellor George Osborne in October 2010, have done little in spreading fast internet access. This was despite the allocated £40m.

The schemes were to cover Herefordshire, Cumbria, North Yorkshire and the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Countryside Alliance had submitted Freedom of Information requests and from the answers collected, it became clear that Herefordshire and the Highlands and Islands Council are yet to spend the funds given on their broadband projects.

Cumbria County Council said that “the work on preparation for the broadband project has been provided from within Council resources deployed on the procurement of its own ICT partnership”.

On the other hand, North Yorkshire claims to have spent almost £500,000 of its own funds, out of a budget of £950,000 allocated to NYnet, a broadband company wholly owned by the council. The Alliance is concerned over the councils’ lack of enthusiasm and failure to prioritise the work.

But IT experts and telecoms industry supports the councils saying that they face a lot of technical and practical hurdles in building the broadband infrastructure.