BT HAS criticised the Scottish Government for "sitting back and missing a unique opportunity" to transform Scotland into a super-fast broadband country, a move that would result in unprecedented and lasting economic benefits.
BT last week committed £1.5bn to roll -out a fibre-based broadband network strategy for up to 10 million UK homes by 2012. But director Brendan Dick claimed Scotland was the only area in Britain not to embrace its commitment.
He said: "We will f
ocus the investment, the largest of its kind in the UK, in places where there is a strong public interest in partnering with BT to use the new services." Otherwise, the money will be lost.
However, a Scottish Government spokesman claimed comprehensive research on next generation broadband had found there was "little to suggest that significantly higher bandwith provision would propel economic growth".
He added that most economic benefit was predicted to come from "first generation" broadband applications: "Next generation broadband would largely facilitate entertainment, video-based activities."
The Scottish Government believes the market should be allowed to develop commercially before public subsidies came into play.
Dick responded: "We aren't looking for subsidies. Everyone is shouting about parity with those countries enjoying faster broadband speeds, like Korea. Yet, the Scottish Government is quite happy to sit back and miss this unique opportunity, while the vast majority of the rest of Britain is embracing the move."
Dick said it required 10Mb/s to run the likes of high definition television, with businesses and homes catered for through broadband services of up to 24Mb/s. But the demand for faster broadband was incessant. BT's new investment plan covers speeds of up to 100Mb/s, with a potential of speeds up to 1,000Mb/s.
He pointed to the increasing tendency to run businesses from a home base. "If you run such a venture, you might have three or four computers plus a combined children's entertainment and games online at the same time," he said.
Dick claimed that the Government's stance meant large sections of Scotland's small business sector was set to miss out. He urged the Scottish public sector to take another look at the new broadband recommendations and work with BT to ensure funds are directed to Scotland.
"Scotland is already a tremendous broadband success story and its economy has been boosted, while it's an essential part of people's lives," he said.
"BT is keen that Scotland's urban and rural areas do not miss out on partnering with us in our vision for the next phase of the broadband revolution."
The investment represented a "bold step" by BT. "We now need others to be just as bold," Dick said.
A Scottish Government spokesman said:
"By extending the availability of affordable broadband from the present level of over 99%, we can help create a wealthier and fairer Scotland.
"That's why we recently announced a £3.5m open procurement exercise to deliver services to those currently out of reach."
