Tuesday, June 08, 2010

UK - Minister talks about broadband plans, including opening up access to ducts and poles

[bbc] The UK's culture secretary has been talking tough on broadband in his first major speech on the issue.

He said that the previous government's commitment to a "paltry 2Mbps" (megbaits per second) universal net speed was "pitifullly unambitious".

He added that it was "a scandal" that nearly three million households cannot access even this speed.

He said that his goal was to provide Britain with the "best superfast broadband network in Europe".

Details on how this would be achieved were scant but could include new regulation to force water, gas and electricity companies to open up their ducts.

"The biggest cost involved in rolling out new fibre optic networks is digging up the roads," he said.

"Cut these costs and, straight away, investing in superfast broadband becomes a substantially more attractive proposition," he added.

He welcomed Ofcom's proposals to open up access to BT's ducts and telegraph poles.

Government lays out fast net plan

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