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Darling announces extra funding for broadband

The Chancellor has announced extra funding for digital investment to help extend the UK’s broadband network to “almost every community”.

Following on from the Digital Britain summit last week, which bought together politicians, organisation and individuals to debate on how to equip Britain for a digital future and keep up with the rest of world, Alistair Darling announced extra funding from the Government.

One immediate point of criticism is that he stated ‘almost every community’.  Lord Carter has already warned that there may be no business case for investing in fixed-line technology in some rural areas.  Rather he hopes these areas will get covered through mobile and satellite technology.

The Government also announced that it will pursue a “Universal Service in broadband at 2 Megabits per second” together with further support to promote the benefits of broadband and basic digital skills.  A move welcomed by SeekBroadband.com, who recently highlighted the challenges of promoting the benefits of broadband to those who are not using it.

It intends to review Ofcom’s role going forward, ensuring it is aware of the responsibilities, and has enough power to ‘strike the right balance between delivering competition and promoting investment’.

The Government also gave the green light to the £100 million ‘Digital Region’ project, which is led by Yorkshire Forward and will provide superfast broadband to South Yorkshire.