Rural Broadband would be left behind under Tories

11.25.43am GMT Wed 24th Mar 2010

The Conservative policy on rural broadband could see residents in rural areas like Brecon & Radnorshire miss out on fast broadband services, research has shown. Analysis from research firm Point Topic suggests rural constituencies could suffer most from its decision to hold back on subsidising rural super-fast broadband.

The Tories have vowed to scrap the current 50p per month tax levied on landlines, designed to fund rural broadband. It favours a "wait and see" approach.

Commenting on the research, Brecon & Radnorshire's Liberal Democrat MP Roger Williams said:

"All the main parties agree that Britain needs superfast broadband. With Britain struggling to emerge from recession I believe the benefits from extending and speeding the spread of superband should make it one of the next government's priorities, whoever is in power. Yet the Tories seem to want to leave it to the market to supply the necessary investment, even though we know the market will not deliver to the most rural areas like Brecon & Radnorshire."

" We know from experience that public subsidy has been needed to provide current broadband to much of Mid Wales. But if the Tories get in to power it looks as though the provision of superfast broadband may be delayed for many years or even for ever."

Notes

Most experts agree that next-generation broadband will be necessary to keep pace with new services that require a lot of bandwidth, such as video and the increasing demand for high definition (HD). It is generally accepted that the best way to deliver this will be via fibre-optic cables which are expensive to lay, especially in rural areas.

Any Conservative administration would immediately be at odds with a new national broadband campaign - Final Third First, dedicated to getting broadband to rural areas.

Launched at the beginning of March, the Country Land and Business Association is a key member in calling for action on rural broadband.