Broadband News

Rural broadband projects are stalling, claims report

Monday 12 December, 2011

By Duncan Heaney

The Countryside Alliance believes that rural upgrades aren’t making the grade.

Although broadband infrastructure upgrades are taking place across the UK, many rural areas are being left behind. That’s according to the Countryside Alliance, which has found plans to deploy superfast fibre optic broadband have stalled in a number of locations.

Last year, the government announced four pilot areas for broadband projects: Herefordshire, Cumbria, North Yorkshire and the Highlands and Islands. The Countryside Alliance sent Freedom of Information requests to the local councils in the proposed project areas. The responses showed that none of the councils had received any money from the government, picked an organisation to upgrade the network, or started work in a meaningful way.

Some experts believe that rural upgrade projects lag behind those in urban areas because of cost and the inexperience of local councils. Before any work can get underway, a company has to be selected to build the network, and that’s an expensive process.

For example, BT, Fujitsu and Cable & Wireless are just some of the companies bidding in the pilot areas. Fujitsu has revealed that it has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds bidding for different areas. It’s also pulled out of the process entirely in the Highlands and Islands claiming “the sums did not stack up”.

Similarly, Cable & Wireless withdrew from the bidding in Cumbria and Geo UK, a smaller fibre optic provider, has pulled out completely.

Bidding is expensive for councils too. In a response to the Countryside Alliance’s Freedom of Information request, Hereford council revealed it has already spent £50,000 on the procurement process.

The government has set a target for the UK to have the best broadband in Europe by 2015, and it remains confident the target will be met. A government spokesman refutes the Countryside Alliance’s findings, stating that all four projects are making progress.