Local authorities urged to act fast regarding their broadband requirements

Jeremy Hunt, the cultural secretary has reminded the local council authorities to forward their plans for improving the broadband coverage in their areas to get full access to the basic 2 Mbps service. The last date is preponed to 29th of February of the year from the original date of April. According to the Guardian, M. Hunt had warned that he would be forced to withdraw a part of the allotted GBP 530 million funding if the local authorities fail to respond in time. However some councils have already submitted their proposals. Many local authorities are thinking in terms of cent per cent target for super fast broadband, but most of the plans are for about 90% coverage. Some want to go as close as possible to the 100% mark, for 25 Mbps for residents and businesses, but that is not likely to happen with the limited budget sanctioned. Procurement processes are cumbersome. There are varieties of rules and regulations that have to be adhered to get even the allotted fund. Bodies, like European Union have their own procedures and formalities for release of the fund. It can be said of local authorities that they are slow, but it is worth noting that even though the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) commenced its operation as early as in March 2010, the Delivery Model for Broadband UK was published only in October 2011. The delay can be attributed factors such as the change of government in May 2010, changing of the Universal Service Commitment (USC) for the delivery of 2 Mbps from 2012 to 2015, advancing the superfast target by two years to 2015 etc. But there has not been any apparent effort to speed up the matter.