UK e-Minister Patricia Hewitt and e-Envoy Andrew Pinder yesterday launched the Government's new strategy which it hopes will help remove the urban/rural divide and give better access to broadband internet services.
The report, entitled "UK online: the broadband future," outlines an action plan to help drive forward broadband networks across the UK which promise providing faster, cheaper, always-on access to on-line services.

A key milestone for the Government's “UK online” initiative, the new strategy supports the Government's objective of achieving universal access to the internet by 2005. It is also a cornerstone of the Government's wider drive to develop the UK as a leading knowledge economy, as set out in the White Paper on Enterprise, Skills and Innovation being published today.

Ms Hewitt said:

“We do not want a nation of have-nets and have-nots. We are therefore announcing a new £30 million fund to help ensure that a digital divide in high speed Internet access does not open up between urban and rural communities."

According to the Government, recent research from the US shows that consumers with broadband spend four times as long on-line and engage in a wider range of e-commerce activities than those with traditional narrowband connections.

The research also shows that small firms are twice as likely to trade on-line if they have higher bandwidth connections.

The report “UK online: The broadband future” is available at www.e-envoy.gov.uk.

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