Hardest to reach must not be left offline
Thank goodness for the EFRA Select Committee. This press release features another insightful outcome from another useful Inquiry. It flags up the challenges facing a number of rural communities linked to the likely switch of almost everything government based to digital over the next few years. It tells us:
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee fears hard to reach rural communities are being overlooked in the race to upgrade basic broadband to superfast for 95% of the country’s premises by 2017.
Chair’s comments
Committee Chair Anne McIntosh MP said:
“People living in the hard-to-reach 5% of premises need the same access as the rest to online and digital services.
There is a risk in the current approach that improving service for those who already have it will leave even further behind the rural farms, businesses and homes who have little or none.”
In their report, Rural broadband and digital-only services, MPs raise fears that a focus on improving access for most of the country may leave a minority with little or no ability to use key government services switching to online-only or mainly online delivery.
The Government plans to transform broadband require 95% of premises to have superfast speeds of 24 Megabits per second by 2017 then, although BT told the Committee that that target might slip into 2018.
Miss McIntosh added:
“The Government has committed to providing universal basic broadband coverage and superfast broadband coverage for 95% of premises by 2017.
We are concerned that the current broadband rollout targets are based on inaccurate assumptions that universal basic broadband coverage has largely been achieved when the reality is that many rural communities are still struggling with no access, or slow broadband speeds.
There is a fear that upgrading the majority who already have access to basic broadband is creating an even bigger gap between those with and those completely without broadband access.”