Govt aims for 100pc high-speed broadband coverage

Govt aims for 100pc high-speed broadband coverage

The Government has upped its target for superfast broadband delivery and says high speed connections should be available to the whole of the UK in the next few years.

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey did not put a timescale on when full coverage should be reached but he said that the Government wants universal superfast broadband across Britain. The current official target is to roll out coverage to 95 per cent of the country by 2017, but Broadband Delivery UK (BBDUK) has been struggling to achieve the necessary coverage in some isolated and rural areas.

Mr Vaizey, speaking in the House of Commons, said: "We have had phase one to get to 90 per cent, we now have phase two to get to 95 per cent and the money we have allocated for new technologies will give us the figure we need to get to 100 per cent.”

The Government is keen that the new Broadband Innovation Fund plays a part in helping to meet the 100 per cent coverage pledge. The fund has £10 million to allocate to innovative projects to bring high speed broadband coverage to parts of the UK that have proved difficult to connect using the technology that’s currently available.

Mr Vaizey said that local councils are responsible for ensuring superfast broadband is rolled out in their own areas and should look at the parts of their district where publicly funded schemes would make the biggest difference, Cable.co.uk reported.

In many parts of the UK, the latest high-speed fibre broadband connections are available. They can provide speeds of up to 152Mb, which are capable of downloading music in just seconds and allow uninterrupted streaming of visual media.

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