Labour MP slams government and Openreach over broadband

Amid its own hard fought leadership campaign, the Labour Party has voiced its concerns over the UK's broadband infrastructure.

Labour MP and shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant has been very critical of the current government's broadband investment, saying it has been "too slow, too late". He also pointed the finger of blame in the direction of BT, stating that there ought to be a complete split between the company and its superfast broadband arm, Openreach, claiming the telecoms giant is failing in its duty to bring high-quality broadband to UK homes and businesses.

Mr Bryant believes that telecoms watchdog Ofcom ought to have done more to make Openreach its own entity, which would have helped superfast broadband reach more remote areas that are not as commercially attractive.

The comments comes as Ofcom conducts a review of the UK broadband market, with rivals to BT raising concerns that the Openreach infrastructure - which they must use to provide their own services - is suffering from problems.

In an article he wrote for The Telegraph, Mr Bryant said: “The situation is now so bad that Ofcom’s review should work on the presumption that Openreach should be split from the rest of BT unless their review produces conclusive evidence to the contrary.”

Ofcom's recently launched Strategic Review of Digital Communications is the watchdog's first formal assessment of the telecoms sector for 10 years. Within the review it offered its own criticism of Openreach and its delays in providing parts of the UK with superfast broadband.

Labour set a goal of getting 100 per cent of Britain access to broadband speeds of two megabits per second, which is the most basic broadband connection, even though it is not even fast enough to stream programmes on BBC iPlayer.

“What are Openreach and the Government delivering? Broadband that is too slow, too late,” Mr Bryant asserted.

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