Talking big, without the cash to back it
The London School of Economics claims that there is a £1.1 billion hole in funding in the government's plans for 90 per cent access to super-fast broadband by 2015.
While the plan is a good idea, it is expected to cost £2.4 billion in total. The current government funding offering up only £1.3 billion of this amount which means that the the rest of the cash will have to be made up with a raffle. The report suggests that whilst we will likely reach basic coverage for 100 per cent of the population by 2015, targets to reach 100 per cent fast coverage and 90 per cent super-fast coverage won't be met.
With past reports indicating that GDP per Capita can rise by 0.9 to 1.5 per cent for each 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration. Report author, Paolo Dini, said that the government should be spending more on broadband. He slammed the government for spending £200 billion for transport infrastructure and £50 million to broadband.
In Europe, the UK is currently in the top two or three in terms of central spend on broadband. A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport denied that targets were being missed and said that he was confident of completing the roll-out by 2015. Particularly if people by a ticket in the raffle he is holding to raise cash for it.
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Nick Farrell
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