High-speed broadband timetable slips in UK

A key target for the UK government’s rollout of superfast broadband will be missed this year, raising doubts about ambitions to build a national high-speed network by 2015.

Superfast broadband has been put at the top of the digital agenda by the coalition, with a target to become the most advanced in Europe in three years. Access to high-speed internet networks is seen as an economic and social catalyst, in particular for those working and living in more remote areas. However, in a week that saw government strategy criticized by the House of Lords for its overemphasis on speed to the detriment of coverage, the Financial Times has learnt that the timetable for local authorities seeking to use the government procurement process for rural broadband projects has been set back by three months at least. Furthermore, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport website shows that close to 30 of the 45 local authority and devolved areas covering the UK have not yet begun procurement and those with knowledge of the process have said that the delay could be longer, given the time it takes to tender contracts to private sector suppliers.