Business broadband and the coalition government

The issue of communications – and broadband in particular – played an important part in the run up to the general election earlier this year and it stayed on the radar after the coalition government was formed.

In its Programme for Government, the coalition outlined its intention to facilitate the rapid rollout of superfast broadband.

It added: “We will ensure that BT and other infrastructure providers allow the use of their assets to deliver such broadband, and we will seek to introduce superfast broadband in remote areas at the same time as in more populated areas.

“If necessary, we will consider using the part of the TV licence fee that is supporting the digital switchover to fund broadband in areas that the market alone will not reach.”

Speaking at the Hospital Club in June, Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport, expanded upon this and explained why broadband is such a vital issue for British businesses.

“Wherever I go in the country, businesses tell me that access to fast, reliable broadband is increasingly essential to their competitive success,” he said.

“Other countries are already moving ahead with rolling out next generation, superfast broadband based on fibre optics rather than copper.

“Superfast broadband is not simply about doing the same things faster. It’s about doing totally new things – creating a platform on which a whole generation of new businesses can thrive.”

One important move, promised in the Conservative party manifesto, was to scrap the 50p per month landline tax that would have been levied on all businesses and households to fund broadband rollout.

This promise was executed in the emergency Budget and chancellor George Osborne said: “Instead, we will support private broadband investment, including to rural areas, in part with funding from the Digital Switchover under-spend within the TV licence fee.”

Perhaps the most significant move came, however, when the government decided to scrap the target for universal 2MB broadband by 2012, which had been set by the previous government and initially maintained by the coalition.

At a recent broadband industry event, Jeremy Hunt said: “I have looked at the provision the government had made to achieve this by 2012. And I’m afraid that I am not convinced that there is sufficient funding in place.

“So, while we will keep working towards that date, we have set ourselves a more realistic target of achieving universal 2MB access within the lifetime of this parliament.”

This would mean that, barring a break-up of the coalition government, 2015 is the new date by which all businesses should expect to be served with adequate broadband services.

In the same speech, Mr Hunt did confirm that a testing process would begin to work out the best way to deliver superfast services to rural areas, an issue that has been of concern among organisations representing businesses away from urban areas, where telecommunications companies have been reluctant to provide infrastructure.

Earlier this month, Jeremy Hunt said that “by the end of this parliament, this country should boast the best superfast broadband in Europe and be up there with the very best in the world”.

While some ambitious targets may have been scaled back, broadband remains a vital issue, recognised as a part of the infrastructure and essential to businesses around the country.

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