Government urged to look into rural broadband needs

Thee rural folks give topmost priority for reliable broadband connection in their New Year requirements.

According to Ofcom, the telecom regulator, 20% of the rural areas are not catered at all, while 35% do not have Super-fast access.

20% of the broadband users in England and Wales do not get even 2 Mbps of download speed.

The Country Landowners Association (CLA) advises the government to give importance to rural broadband than spending money in areas of fast connectivity to make it faster.

Rupert Ashby of CLA stated that the government spending is concentrated in urban areas, which are already well connected. Instead, it must also look into the needs of the rural areas, for example the south east which are all ‘notspots’.

The digital divide between urban and rural areas which is growing fast should be checked. It should not be allowed to develop. It has created varieties of problems. For example, the tenants are leaving the building owners, who are unable to provide broadband connectivity to them.

The hotels are having a lean period as the customers want to stay only in places where internet access is available. Online studies of the students are disturbed.

The subjects are handicapped that they cannot make online bill payments, submit tax returns etc. These are only some of the instances. There are many more.

In the meanwhile, CLA has recommended the government to adhere to the ‘universal service commitment’ and provide 5 Mbps as the minimum broadband speed.