Rural Vulnerability Service
RURAL BROADBAND – May 2016
Better broadband – and the lack of it – is the focus of this newsletter from the Rural Vulnerability Service, brought to you by the Rural England Community Interest Company and the Rural Services Network in association with Calor.
The Rural Vulnerability Service disseminates information about key rural issues.
Rural businesses and communities continue to face challenges in terms of broadband, with some villages taking matters into their own hands in a bid to get adequate connections.
The topic has rarely been bigger or more pressing.
Latest updates:
Speedy rural broadband provided only ‘on request’
9 May 2016
The government won’t automatically provide high speed broadband to rural areas of the UK that aren’t currently connected. (Wired.co.uk)
Queen’s speech promises to ‘right’ for high-speed broadband
18 May 2016
“Automatic” compensation is promised for anyone who does not get at least 10Mbps broadband – with faster speeds promised in time (Computing)
Superfast broadband is ‘promise, not aspiration’
25 May 2016
Broadband minister and Wantage MP Ed Vaizey says superfast rural broadband is a promise, not an aspiration (Oxford Mail)
Councils call for ‘flexible’ minimum broadband speeds
11 May 2016
The minimum broadband speed set by the government should be flexible so it can rise as average speeds do, councils have suggested. (Cable.co.uk)
Fibre broadband for rural Warwickshire
9 May 2016
More rural communities across Warwickshire are to get access to fibre-based broadband over the next few months as the county’s superfast project expands. (Cable.co.uk)
Rural broadband lags behind ex-Soviet bloc
21 May 2016
Rural communities in Britain get worse superfast broadband coverage than their counterparts in Slovenia, Lithuania and Cyprus. (Telegraph))
Rural broadband ‘betrayal’ devastating for Tory heartlands
7 May 2016
The roll-out of broadband to the countryside is one of the most contentious issues facing this Government, says Sarah Lee of the Countryside Alliance (Telegraph))
BT speeds up basic fibre broadband service
15 April 2016
BT has announced an increase in the speed of its ‘entry level’ fibre broadband service. (Cable.co.uk)
Ministers told to spend £258million rural broadband windfall quickly
9 May 2016
Ministers are being pressured to ensure a £258million windfall on boosting rural broadband is spent as quickly as possible (Telegraph)
Poor rural broadband ‘harms future of British farming’
11 May 2016
The National Farmers’ Union says government must do more to improve rural broadband, claiming just 4 percent have superfast connections. (TechWeek)
Virgin Media broadband comes to 10 more communities
24 May 2016
Virgin Media is to connect 10 more small towns and communities to its ultrafast broadband service. (Broadband Choices)
Broadband investment welcome, but remember final 5%
6 May 2016
Further investment in broadband and 4G technology is welcome, but more must be done in rural areas to ensure the ‘final five per cent’ is not disadvantaged. (Berwick Advertiser)
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