Telecom Firm O-bit says Government Is Not Taking Broadband Seriously

Dave Breith, boss of the UK telecoms company O-bit has accused the government of acting irresponsibly and shirking its responsibility when it comes to the plans to introduce and maintain superfast broadband services around the country. These comments appear after a speech from Jeremy Hunt last week, the Secretary of State for Culture, the Olympics Media and Sport (DCMS), where he laid out what he believes to be the best way forward for Britain in terms of superfast broadband.

Despite the generally well accepted speech from Hunt, Breith believes that the government is going to have to go a lot further and actually invest money in the system rather than just encouraging utility companies to open up their pipes, as has been planned:

“Encouraging utilities companies to open up their networks of pipes to allow the private sector to install broadband is a good start, but makes it look like the government is shirking its responsibility.” Said Mr. Breith.

“If we are to have a broadband network that compares favourably to those of our European neighbours, the government will have to invest in it. Although the private sector will play a massive part in creating the next generation of broadband networks, complete coverage of the UK can only be achieved with the full support of the government.”

The government plans to use some of the money from the BBC switchover budget to fund the development of superfast broadband outside of big towns, but this money wouldn’t be put into use until 2012. Further details about the future of Britain’s broadband services will not doubt unfold in the emergency budget next week.  The organisation which will implement these policies Broadband Delivery UK is due to hold an event on the 15^th of July to cover the subject in far greater depth.

Although the government might still have a long way to go when it comes to getting Britain back into the race when it comes to easy access to fast broadband services, the current plans are at least far in advance of the previous governments pledges to supply on a minimum of 2 Mbps broadband to everyone in the country.

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