Lords committee to review government broadband plans

A Lords committee has this week launched an inquiry into whether the government's plans to ensure the UK has the 'best superfast broadband in Europe by 2015' go far enough.

The Lords communication committee, whose members include Lord Melvyn Bragg, noted that the policy debate around superfast broadband has "implications for a very broad range of people, from citizens, consumers and innovative business in both towns and rural communities, to network providers, regulators and the government".

The committee also noted there is an "ever-increasing demand for bandwidth" in the UK, due to the growing adoption of data-hungry devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It therefore wants to find out more about "the thinking behind and progress" behind the government's broadband strategy.

The government wants all 25 million UK homes to have access to a basic broadband speed of 2Mbps and 90% of homes to have access to a minimum speed of 24Mbps.

But other parts of Europe are already well advanced in the rollout of high speed fibre cables direct to people's homes, capable of delivering broadband in excess of 100Mbps. This has led to concern that the government's targets for 2015 will soon be out of date.

Ministers have set aside £530m to bring superfast broadband to rural areas of Britain and £100m for high speed fixed and mobile internet in ten major cities, including London, Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

However, the Lords Committee wants to hear from any interested organisations and individuals about whether the government's investment is being "effectively applied to develop maximum social and economic benefit".

The peers also want to investigate what is being done to "prevent a digital backwater in areas where the rollout of superfast broadband isn't commercially attractive", and gauge what role alternative methods of delivering superfast broadband should play in the rollout.

Virgin Media and Fujitsu have long claimed that using BT's poles and ducts to deliver broadband to rural areas is the best solution, as it would not require costly digging up of the roads.

However, they claim that BT is dragging its feet in offering wholesale access to its infrastructure on fair pricing terms, despite being ordered to do so by Ofcom last year.

"Superfast broadband is clearly an important development across Britain, not just for economic growth but also because it will impact on how people do things such as view media content, shop and even access healthcare," said Lord Inglewood, the chairman of the Communications Committee.

"We want to look into the government's proposals to find out if its targets are likely to be met and whether it is being ambitious enough in its plans. Issues such as investment, Britain's market in fibre optic products and whether the advances in broadband provision will require regulatory changes are all things that need to be looked at to ensure the strategy works."

The deadline for written submissions in March 13.

Watch a video of Lord Inglewood discussing the UK's broadband plans: