Universal high-speed broadband access will require more work by the government

In order to improve the overall quality of broadband services for customers in the UK in terms of speed and reliability experts have advised that the government will need to do far more than it is currently planning to.

Experts have advised that when it comes to providing users with a more reliable high-speed broadband connection and improving the standards for broadband throughout the UK the government should be setting its sights far higher.

Much more must be done to protect the future of the internet in the UK as it is something that flourishes through the network of governments, businesses and consumers that use it according to a professor of computer science at the University of Southampton, Dame Wendy Hall.

Recent plans from the government that outlined what had to be achieved by 2012 in terms of broadband services throughout the country were currently not enough she advised in a speech to delegates attending the Digital Media London Technology Network conference on the 2nd December 2009.

Many of the technologies in the future like streaming high-definition television services and other bandwidth-hungry services would not be addressed by the implementation of a 2Mbps broadband service throughout the country as laid out in the recent Digital Britain report, which was released in June of this year, she added, and this simply demonstrated a lack of vision by the government.

She went on to warn “The fact that we’re bankrupt and can’t afford to put optical fibre anywhere doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be doing it. We need to think harder about what type of society we’re going to have in the age of networks and for sure ours is going to be a backward one if we don’t get this right.”