The announcement coincides with unpublished research casting doubt over the feasibility of this goal. News site The Register claims to have seen a “damning” unpublished government report. It is claimed that Britain will still trail South Korea, Sweden, Canada, Japan and the US in performance by 2005.
Presently, the UK has 160,000 broadband users with some 13 million homes connected to a BT broadband-enabled exchange. Alexander described how the government hopes to increase the broadband market and “bring benefits to businesses and consumers alike” and hopes that “this funding will help stimulate action across the country.”
Funds have been allocated using a formula based on the number of residents in a particular region without affordable access to broadband services. Scotland is to receive the greatest amount of funding with £4.4m and is followed by the South West which is to receive £3.8 million. London benefits from much wider broadband provision and will receive only £0.1 million. It is claimed, however, that the leaked report shows government efforts in achieving top broadband status are futile.
According to The Register, the report demonstrates that, even if the government adopts all the recommendations contained in the Broadband Stakeholders Group report published in September, Britain will still be a middle-ranking broadband nation by 2005.
Apparently, Britain now lags in ninth place in the international league table of countries and “appears to be slightly under-performing in terms of weighted average price and performance.”
However, the report attributes Britain’s problem primarily to lack of demand rather than the high price and limited availability and choice of services.
The measures announced by Alexander may go some way to addressing this problem. Regional Development Agencies and Devolved Administrations have been invited to put forward “innovative schemes” for the funds. Schemes are likely to include pilot projects to demonstrate the benefits of broadband and identification of public bodies such as schools who may benefit from broadband connection.