- The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, will today announce a further £50m of funding for new projects to push forward the government's ambitions to get superfast broadband to every community in the UK. The intention is to get a "digital hub" connected by fibre optics in every area by 2015
- But critics say the new plans do not address fundamental problems with the way that BT controls the infrastructure needed to install new fibre systems, nor ease inequalities in the way that BT is charged for fibre compared to small companies.
- An Ofcom study published last week showed that only 0.2% of UK households have a fibre-optic broadband connection, compared with 12% in Sweden and 34% in Japan, which leads the world. If successful, the proposals would mean fibre-optic links to telephone "cabinets" in every area, which would then connect to subscribers' homes by their existing copper lines.
-This compromise system is known as FTTCand is generally reckoned to offer a maximum speed of about 40Mbps, compared to FTTH – fibre to the home – which can achieve 100Mbps or more, but requires fibre connections into the house, replacing existing copper wiring.
- A study by the London School of Economics calculates that having a superfast network throughout Britain would create 280,000 new jobs. The Federation of Small Businesses says that it could add £18bn to the UK's GDP. The UK is also an "acknowledged leader" in e-commerce, Hunt says, spending more online per capita than any other country in the world.
Emily and Megan
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