Government set to reveal £830m high speed broadband network strategy
Later today, culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce an £830 strategy to honour the Governments commitment that every community across the UK have access to superfast broadband by 2015.
The plan is to ensure that the UK leads the way with its broadband network, which aim to stimulate private investment and see companies share the network in order to keep cost down and improve the speed at which high speed internet access can be made available.
An extra £50m is being put towards the scheme to pay for second wave trials for the network, which Hunt claims will create ‘hundreds of thousands’ of jobs and also generate ‘billions’ to the UK’s GDP.
"But it is not just about the economy, around the world there are countless examples of superfast broadband helping to build a fairer and more prosperous society, and to transform the relationship between Government and citizens," said Hunt.
The implementation of superfast broadband across the UK was also a commitment made by the Labour Government, before this year’s election, only with a target of being delivered by 2012, a date that was soon moved by the Coalition Government upon gaining power.
Today, Hunt will also praise the efforts of BT, which has promised to match Government funding with its own funds, where it wins bids.