Osborne: Broadband to be basic legal right
Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed that broadband internet is to be made a basic legal right in the UK.
He revealed that a universal service obligation (USO) is set to be introduced, ensuring speeds of at least 5Mbps for all households and businesses, even those in rural areas.
The chancellor also announced his plan for a national minimum broadband speed of 100Mbps, which he said would reach "nearly all homes in Britain".
Mr Osborne unveiled the new policy as part of the government's digital communications infrastructure strategy, which was released alongside the Budget last week.
"The government is committed to ensuring that every single household in the UK has access to the basic broadband needed to live and work in the modern world," the strategy paper stated.
"This commitment to all goes further than any other country in Europe. Once in place, a USO would mean that consumers gain a legal right to request installation of 5Mbps-capable services at an affordable price."
A recent poll found that consumers are in favour of a USO being introduced for broadband, but they would not be willing to pay increased bills to cover the cost.
Mr Osborne's USO broadband pledge coincides with a new national survey by the County Councils Network, which found half of county councils do not think the government will hit its target of taking superfast broadband coverage to 95 per cent of the UK by 2017.
The study revealed 45 per cent of members are not confident of hitting the state subsidised broadband targets in time, while less than a third of the respondents stated that the thought the delivery process and market were insufficiently competitive.
A Department for Culture, Media & Sport spokesman said: "Working with our partners in each of the 44 project areas, we’re confident of reaching the target to take superfast broadband coverage to 95 per cent of the country by 2017.
"In fact, the National Audit Office recently said the programme is on track and that the safeguards are place to ensure the taxpayer gets value for money."
Businesses looking to move services into the cloud should evaluate the performance of their existing network and consider setting up a leased line or MPLS network.
