ISPreview Study Finds GBP150m City Broadband Boost Splits UK Internet Users
A new ISPreview.co.uk survey of 872 internet users in the United Kingdom (UK) has found that half support the government's GBP150m plan to improve broadband internet services in ten of the country's largest cities but, when given a choice, most (62%) would still rather they used it to improve access in rural areas.
London, United Kingdom, April 18, 2012 --(PR.com)-- A new ISPreview.co.uk survey of 872 internet access subscribers in the United Kingdom (conducted between 5th March and 16th April 2012) has reported how more than half (52%) of respondents supported the government's plan to spend GBP100m on improving superfast broadband services in some of the country's largest cities, yet only 10% of the 52% felt that GBP100 Million would be enough to do the job properly. A further GBP50m was added in March 2012 to help in "smaller cities."
According to the government, the Urban Broadband Fund seeks to deliver "ultrafast" fibre optic based 80-100Mbps+ (Megabits per second) broadband services into ten large UK "super-connected cities" and a further batch of "smaller cities" over the next three years, starting with the main capital cities of Edinburgh (Scotland), Belfast (N.Ireland), Cardiff (Wales) and London (England).
However, when given a choice of alternative options, some 62% of ISPreview.co.uk respondents said that they'd rather put the GBP150m towards boosting broadband in poorly served rural areas and only 19% would spend it in cities as intended. A further 11% suggested using the money to help cut the country's deficit and just 8% would spend it on something else entirely (i.e. not broadband or cutting the deficit).
"On this issue the country initially appears to be split right down the middle," said ISPreview.co.uk's Founder, Mark Jackson. "But, when given a choice, most people still think that the new funding would be better spent upon improving internet access in poorly served rural areas, as befits the governments original focus."
"At the same time we shouldn't forget that poor broadband connectivity is by no means isolated to rural areas and many urban locations also suffer from similar problems. But it's still difficult to understand the government's decision to intervene in places that the private sector could resolve by itself," concluded Jackson.
According to the government, the Urban Broadband Fund seeks to deliver "ultrafast" fibre optic based 80-100Mbps+ (Megabits per second) broadband services into ten large UK "super-connected cities" and a further batch of "smaller cities" over the next three years, starting with the main capital cities of Edinburgh (Scotland), Belfast (N.Ireland), Cardiff (Wales) and London (England).
However, when given a choice of alternative options, some 62% of ISPreview.co.uk respondents said that they'd rather put the GBP150m towards boosting broadband in poorly served rural areas and only 19% would spend it in cities as intended. A further 11% suggested using the money to help cut the country's deficit and just 8% would spend it on something else entirely (i.e. not broadband or cutting the deficit).
"On this issue the country initially appears to be split right down the middle," said ISPreview.co.uk's Founder, Mark Jackson. "But, when given a choice, most people still think that the new funding would be better spent upon improving internet access in poorly served rural areas, as befits the governments original focus."
"At the same time we shouldn't forget that poor broadband connectivity is by no means isolated to rural areas and many urban locations also suffer from similar problems. But it's still difficult to understand the government's decision to intervene in places that the private sector could resolve by itself," concluded Jackson.
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ISPreview.co.uk
Mark Jackson
440163278234
www.ispreview.co.uk
Mark Jackson
440163278234
www.ispreview.co.uk
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