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When will government money change rural broadband?

Our Broadband Expert says...

The government wants to create “the best superfast broadband network in Europe,” bringing speeds of at least 25Mb to 90% of the country.

The remaining 10% has been set an unambitious target of at least 2Mb.

But even this isn’t achievable through just the private sector; Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) offers the fastest speeds in the country, but its cable network only covers around half the UK.

BT broadband (www.BT.com) is building its own fibre optic network - already available to around five million homes and businesses - but its target is two-thirds of the country by 2015.

What happens to the “final third” of mostly rural areas that will not be served by these networks?

Rural broadband

Last month, the government revealed which counties would receive money from its £530million fund to bring superfast broadband to those areas not covered by commercial networks like BT and Virgin Media.

English counties will receive £294.8million, while Scotland was awarded £68.8million.

Cumbria was one of the areas awarded the most government money at over £17million, because 96.2% of homes and businesses are in an area with poor broadband access.

Some counties, where the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), which was in charge of the allocations, felt that government money was not needed, did not receive anything from the fund.

Of those areas that were awarded money, allocations started at £630,000 for the West Midlands - going all the way up to £31.3million for Devon and Somerset, where 64.2%, or over 870,000, premises struggle to get online.

Some areas with more homes suffering slow broadband received less cash than others, but the government defended its decisions. “The allocations are based on need,” explained the DCMS. “We have looked at the areas where the market will fail to deliver superfast broadband to enough premises on its own, and the cost of that. It is not based on the number of people living or working in a county.”

But the deadline for delivering these faster speeds - whether “superfast” or at least 2Mb - is not until 2015.

Community broadband

Even though the government has announced how much money each county will get, it is down to local authorities to decide how and where to spend the cash. And in some areas the money isn’t enough to cover every household.

In Cumbria, for example, the £17million works out at less than £70 for each of the 250,081 premises in need of a faster connection.

The government says local authorities should now work with private firms and investors - or seek innovative ways - to make their money go further.

But already, some counties - specifically Cumbria - have been criticised over the way they plan to spend their rural broadband cash.

Cumbria County Council has revealed plans to upgrade its public networks, such as schools, public sector buildings and hospitals, and have local communities piggyback off these networks. Although it says this will make the money go further, and that plans will only go ahead if they benefit the community, critics say the council should be concentrating on improving connections for homes and businesses.

Get involved

Even after the government decided which counties would get funding, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt urged communities to lobby their local councils.

“Some areas of the UK are missing out, with many rural and hard-to-reach communities suffering painfully slow internet connections or no coverage at all,” he said.

He added: “I urge all those suffering the frustration of slow internet connections to make it clear to your local elected representatives that you expect them to do what is needed to access this investment and to deliver broadband to your community.”

There are lots of community broadband schemes dotted around the country that might inspire your local council.

• Local provider Rutland Telecom brought its village broadband up from an average 0.5Mb to 32Mb, and won an Internset Service Providers Association award this year for its efforts
• B4RN is a community-owned and operated project aiming to bring superfast fibre broadband to rural homes and businesses in the north of England
• A joint venture between the Diocese of Norwich and provider FreeClix, known as WiSpire, could see church spires used to emit a Wi-Fi signal to local homes and businesses
Three (www.Three.co.uk) is offering free mobile broadband to selected rural communities, starting with Gringley-on-the-Hill in North Nottinghamshire

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