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Tories tout 100Mbps for most by 2017

The shadow chancellor has promised 100Mbps broadband for the majority of the country if his party is voted in.

By Jennifer Scott, 1 Feb 2010 at 11:51

The Conservative Party is offering 100Mbps next-generation broadband for the majority of the country by 2017, if voted in at the next general election.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday morning, shadow chancellor George Osborne claimed the party could provide new cabling with investment from private companies.

However, any shortfall in funds could be made up with a 3.5 per cent subsidiary from the TV licence fee.

"In the 19th Century we built the railways [and] in the 20th Century we built the motorways,” said Osborne.

"In the 21st Century let's build the super-fast broadband network that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs for Britain."

However, Labour has dismissed the plans with Stephen Timms, minister for Digital Britain, saying the Tories are playing “catch up” with plans the Government has already announced, including 2Mbps of broadband for all by 2012.

"Labour have already announced measures for rolling out broadband across the country - and the Tories have opposed the plans to make that happen," he told the BBC.

The Conservatives have been critical of Labour’s current plans, claiming they would ditch the broadband tax of 50 pence per month to pay for infrastructure upgrades.

But the Liberal Democrats have agreed with Labour, rubbishing the Conservative’s new plans and claiming they don’t have the funds available to pay for such a promise.

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4 comments

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No thanks George

This is just vote for me propaganda to be ignored, look what has happened to the motorways and railway - do we really want to leave our connectivity to any government! and to suggest that they can take % of the license fee is just crazy, I am sure the BBC would be happy with that.

By Steely on Tuesday Feb 2

Not convinced...

Sounds good on paper but it's still not for the whole of the UK. In the areas where 100Mbps isn't achievable, there needs to be a promise of a realistic minimum speed. With "bandwidth inflation", is 100Mbps going to be fast enough in 2017? According to BBC Trust the total license fee income for 2007/08 was £3,369m so the Tories are saying they would syphon approx £118m from the BBC to makeup the shortfall. What will happen to the money Labour has dished out for their 2Mbps Universal Service Commitment if the Tories get in at next election?

By Saamis on Tuesday Feb 2

What is the difference?

By my calculation that is 42p per month on the TV licence versus 50p per month on land-line phone lines - what is the difference? Why not put the tax on ADSL broadband connections? That would at least be justifiable, rather than making people pay for something they do not necessarily want! As for "most of the country" - translation "51% by population", so major urban areas only!

By JohnHind on Tuesday Feb 2

Who is it for, really?

All these ideas of bringing a certain speed of broadband to a certain proportion of the population miss the crucial points: 1. Do they want it. 2. Will they buy it? It's like "5 a day", if people don't want to eat more fruit and veg, they won't!

By Ip_nonsense574f8 on Friday Feb 5