The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has slammed the
government for deciding not to plough public money into
next generation broadband.
"Government broadband investment is not cheap, but vital for
business survival", says the CLA.
The CLA says that a report by the Department for Business
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) - recommending no
government investment in a
next generation access network - is "seriously blinkered".
The organisation insisted that the rural economy would be
severely hampered, along with the rest of industry, if government
money was not ploughed into providing fast broadband services for
all.
Douglas Chalmers, director of CLA North, said, "Universal fast
broadband is not just for games and videos, it means industry and
jobs. Some rural areas are already disadvantaged by existing
broadband provision, which not only affects existing businesses but
also stops new enterprises relocating and creating employment."
He said, "Using effective broadband is a huge boon for all
businesses, even for 'traditional' ones such as farms. The benefits
are even more significant when the communications options are
either disappearing like rural post offices or becoming dearer such
as fuel-driven transport."
He said new, high value and low impact businesses will not even
consider moving to an area that does not have decent
communications.
Chalmers said the future "was having fibre optic connections to
every door". He added, "We never said it would be cheap. Industry
is investing billions, but the digital divide has left many rural
areas unable to compete and amply illustrates the failings of
relying solely on the private sector.
"The solution must be a public/private sector partnership with
the aim of achieving total fibre optic availability within 15
years."
A recent report by the Said Business School at the University of
Oxford and the University of Oviedo's Department of Applied
Economics, sponsored by Cisco Systems, places Britain outside the
top ten "Broadband Quality Nations".
The
BERR Report, Review of Barriers to investment in Next Generation
Broadband, is available online.
CLA: