Broadband for Britain

Filed in archive News on January 22, 2010

© re-ality

"In the 19th Century we built the railways. In the 20th Century we built the motorways. In the 21st Century let's build the super-fast broadband network that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs for Britain."

That's a quote from shadow chancellor George Osborne to the BBC. He says in a Tory (conservative) government that's exactly what they'd be doing.

The Tory objective would be to get 100 megabytes per seconds of internet access to most British homes by 2017. They plan to get the money to pay for these advancements through private investors. The Conservatives suggest that the BCC could help cover costs with the 3.5% of their license fee they put aside for digital switchover.

The Labor party says that the Tories have been behind the time. They say they have tried to increase broadband access for years (with Tory opposition) and the Tories are just now getting on board.

BT currently holds the highest percentage of broadband accounts in Great Britain. They say that they will need help from the public sector to make full broadband access a reality. They also add that they are willing to work with members of either party to make this a reality.

It looks like broadband access continues to be a hot topic across all of Europe. What do you think the best solution will be and will it be any time soon?