Public believe superfast broadband better for economy than airport expansion
Public believe superfast broadband better for economy than airport expansion
People would much rather have superfast broadband installed across the UK than see more capacity created at airports, according to a new study.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) report found that 43 per cent of people thought that ensuring that all homes had superfast broadband would have greater benefits for the economy than building new airports and runways. Fewer than two in 10 believed more airport capacity would pay dividends for the economy.
The IET’s Prof Will Stewart said: “The public have told us that supporting the e-economy by rolling out universal superfast broadband will have more economic benefits for the UK than more traditional infrastructure projects like increasing airport capacity or high speed rail.”
Just 16 per cent of those interviewed said they believed high speed rail projects would have beneficial effects for the economy and create more jobs. Twice as many – 32 per cent – said they supported the building of new nuclear power stations.
The IET’s poll was conducted earlier this month with 2,011 people aged between 16 and 75. Its findings echo comments made recently by Scott Fletcher, the co-founder and chairman of cloud computing firm ANS Group.
He said that bringing superfast fibre-to-the-premises broadband to more homes would have far greater positive repercussions for the economy than the HS2 high-speed rail link, which is expected to cost more than £45 billion to construct.
Mr Fletcher told IT Pro: “I just cannot accept that spending that amount of money on cutting a journey time from London to Birmingham by 20 minutes will have anything like the financial benefits that are claimed for HS2. Superfast Fibre-to-the-Premises broadband would be of immense benefit to British business in the short term and would accelerate the development of new technology in the long term.”
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(Image: Kings Sutton)
