UK - CLA has launched a charter to try to improve broadband in rural areas of the United Kingdom

[web user] A new charter to help tackle problems caused by slow broadband connections in rural areas has been launched by a campaign group.

The Country, Land and Business Association (CLA) has launched an Internet Charter that aims to tackle the problem of poor broadband services in rural areas.

The charter was unveiled at the Penrith & the Border Broadband Conference and highlights the problems faced by surfers in remote areas when dealing with oversized email attachments and complex websites.

The 10-point plan contains advice to website designers and those simply sending emails about how to avoid adding to the problem of "cyber congestion".

The CLA's head of Rural Business Development, Dr Charles Trotman said: "Until everybody can access an acceptably fast connection, organisations must consider all end users when they send emails or have design work done on their websites.

"While not wishing to stifle creativity, we feel there is no need for organisations to use every feature in their software or to pad out their information with oversized and irrelevant graphics.

"Many people ignore or simply forget that a lot of users are still on dial-up. It is often difficult for farmers and other rural businesses to comply with government regulations to file their tax returns online," he continued.

One solution for surfers with poor broadband connections could be Opera Turbo, technology built in to the Opera browser that can reduce the size of a webpage by up to 80 per cent.

Figures released this week by Opera showed that 5.2 million surfers worldwide used the feature in August, with 25.8 billion webpages compressed using Opera Turbo in the last 12 months.

"Prior to the launch of Opera Turbo, we expected that this technology would be adopted first and foremost by those with dial-up connections and limited broadband," said Lars Boilesen, chief executive of Opera Software.

"We are delighted to see Opera Turbo helping users to power-up in a wide variety of countries for a wide variety of needs. It is rewarding to celebrate the anniversary of Opera Turbo with such significant speed gains and cost savings for users across the globe," he continued.

Cyber congestion targeted by web charter