BBC Study Contradicts Digital Britain Report
June 9th, 2009
According to a recent BBC study, despite promises made by the government, many areas in Britain have still not received 2MB broadband connections. Moreover, it seems unlikely that these areas will benefit from the government’s plans anytime soon.
While one usually hears of rural or remote areas, referred to as ‘notspots’, in desperate need of good broadband speeds, it is surprising to find that even areas around London’s travelling routes are experiencing problems. Ironically, some people even reside in areas quite close to fibre cables. However, there exist problems of ownership and profitability of expansion of the cables, because of which customers are suffering. Many other users experience slow speeds because the cables reach them by covering long distances, especially around areas like the M1.
The problem seems worse than earlier estimated. When BT had conducted a study for the interim Digital Britain report, it was found that 7% of
Although other options are being considered to solve the issue, through technologies like mobile and satellite broadband, one cannot be sure that these will give significant results. There is a huge gap to be bridged as the number of people away from the 2Mb mark is much greater than previously thought.
