Rural broadband: Where has all the money gone?

[dutchman]

Internet and network providers have asked the government to clarify why its promised £5bn investment in rural broadband has been reduced to £1.2bn



Industry bodies said they wanted clarity on how and when the remaining £3.8bn would be allocated.

The change was announced in Chancellor Rishi Sunak's spending review.

The government has also watered down its election pledge to reach every home in the country to the lower target of 85%.

Providing all homes and businesses in the UK with gigabit broadband speeds by 2025 was one of Boris Johnson's most ambitious election pledges.

It came with the promise of £5bn to get the job done - but in the spending review it was announced that only £1.2bn of that would be made available over the next four years.

The Independent Network Co-operative Association (Inca), which represents small alternative broadband providers, said it would be pressing the government to make the full funds available earlier.

"The whole point of the funding programme is to ensure that hard-to-reach areas don't get left behind in this massive upgrade to the UK's digital infrastructure," said chief executive Malcolm Corbett.

"For more than a year, the sector has been told that £5bn would be allocated to ensure no homes and businesses were left behind in the gigabit digital revolution. However, the chancellor's spending review allocating just £1.2bn in the period 2021-25 came as a surprise to all in the industry."

And he added that investments from BT as well as from the smaller network providers Inca represents were made on the understanding that "government will play its part too".

The Internet Service Providers' Association (Ispa) also said it wanted "clarity" on how and when the money would be spent.

According to Ofcom, there are almost 600,000 homes and businesses that do not have access to a broadband connection higher than 10Mbps.

[Melisandre]

Internet and network providers have asked the government to clarify why its promised £5bn investment in rural broadband has been reduced to £1.2bn

May be its because they have just given the EU £1.9 billion