The announcement coincides with unpublished research casting
doubt over the feasibility of this goal. News site The Register
claims to have seen a “damning” unpublished government report. It
is claimed that Britain will still trail South Korea, Sweden,
Canada, Japan and the US in performance by 2005.
Presently, the UK has 160,000 broadband users with some 13
million homes connected to a BT broadband-enabled exchange.
Alexander described how the government hopes to increase the
broadband market and “bring benefits to businesses and consumers
alike” and hopes that “this funding will help stimulate action
across the country.”
Funds have been allocated using a formula based on the number of
residents in a particular region without affordable access to
broadband services. Scotland is to receive the greatest amount of
funding with £4.4m and is followed by the South West which is to
receive £3.8 million. London benefits from much wider broadband
provision and will receive only £0.1 million. It is claimed,
however, that the leaked report shows government efforts in
achieving top broadband status are futile.
According to The Register, the report demonstrates that, even if
the government adopts all the recommendations contained in the
Broadband Stakeholders Group report published in September, Britain
will still be a middle-ranking broadband nation by 2005.
Apparently, Britain now lags in ninth place in the international
league table of countries and “appears to be slightly
under-performing in terms of weighted average price and
performance.”
However, the report attributes Britain’s problem primarily to lack
of demand rather than the high price and limited availability and
choice of services.
The measures announced by Alexander may go some way to
addressing this problem. Regional Development Agencies and Devolved
Administrations have been invited to put forward “innovative
schemes” for the funds. Schemes are likely to include pilot
projects to demonstrate the benefits of broadband and
identification of public bodies such as schools who may benefit
from broadband connection.
