PROPOSALS to ensure every household and business in Britain has high-speed internet access by 2012 were condemned yesterday for lacking ambition.
Critics rounded on the government for not going far enough with plans for a "universal service commitment" that would require private firms to supply wired and wireless broadband at speeds up to 2 megabits per second (mbps) – fast enough to watch vid
eos.
They say this would leave the UK falling further behind its industrial rivals – while pointing out that the average download speed in Britain was currently around 3.6 mbps.
Others warned that the moves would simply make it easier to steal music from the internet and share illegal computer files.
The changes, in the interim report Digital Britain by communications minister Lord Carter, would replace BT's obligation to provide a phone line to every UK home, with one to provide broadband.
Jeremy Hunt, the Tory shadow culture secretary, told the Commons that the government's ambitions were "pitifully low" and warned that without a clear commitment to pay for the broadband connections, the proposals were an "empty promise".
He said: "The digital economy is vital for Britain because of our natural strengths in creating digital content, but, when it comes to the delivery of that content, we are lagging badly. We come 21st out of 30 for broadband speed, while 40 per cent of our households do not have broadband at all and connections fell last year. On next generation broadband, the report itself concedes that we are lagging behind France, Germany, the US and Japan."
Liberal Democrat spokesman Don Foster said: "If done properly, 600,000 new jobs could be created in this country, but what have we got? Some vague commitment to a universal 2 megabits per second provision."
Even Labour back-benchers warned that more work was needed to prevent the UK's "digital divide" becoming a chasm.
John Robertson, MP for Glasgow North West and chairman of the all-party group on communications, said Glasgow had the worst take-up of broadband of any UK city. He called on ministers to impose a "social tariff" to ensure disadvantaged residents were not left behind.
He said: "While it is a big step to say that there should be an obligation to provide access to broadband, I fear that this will be rapidly out of date as we see super-fast broadband being brought in and that large sections of the population will be excluded from the revolution."
WHAT NEXTA MAJOR change in the way Britons listen to the radio is also proposed by the government.
The report suggests all UK stations broadcast only on DAB digital radio by 2015, bringing an end to transmission on FM, medium wave and long wave.
The move would, however, depend on DAB broadcasts accounting for half of all radio listening. DAB would eventually have to reach the 97 per cent of the population provided for by FM, especially for drivers on main roads. At present, DAB is available to 82 per cent of UK residents in their homes.
