Nine out of ten UK homes are set for superfast broadband

EVEN MORE DIAL-UP USERS will have the option of superfast broadband services, as the UK Culture Secretary has revealed plans to speed up 90 per cent of the country by 2015.

Previously the government has been more vague, choosing only to say that the majority of the country would get 'superfast' connections, but now it has changed this target to 90 per cent.

Jeremy Hunt revealed the increased scale at the Race Online event that is being held to launch a push to get the disadvantaged online. His idea of superfast broadband, by the way, is 25Mbit/s, while the remaining ten per cent will have to make do with 2Mbit/s.

Although you might suspect that 2015 is a delay, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said that the 2015 deadline had always been the aim of the Government. Well, this latest one at least.

"If we press ahead with expansion of superfast capabilities, then we can put UK in the global fast-lane," said Hunt like so many other MPs before him. "If we fail to do so then we apply a handbrake to growth precisely when we need to power ahead."

Hunt added that "the market" will deliver broadband to only two thirds of the country, explaining that the Government's cash will provide connections for the last third. The money will be split between county councils, unitary authorities and local enterprise partnerships who will develop plans for a rollout. So far, so predictable.

"We have set aside the money and the expertise to make this happen," added Hunt. "Now local authorities need to step up to the plate by bringing forward their own plans setting out how they will deliver this level of ambition."

However, how well this will work in practice is up for debate, particularly if you lend your ear to anyone other than the incumbent suppliers.

"As a small company supplying high speed broadband to rural areas we would like to have the chance to become involved in the government's proposed developments. We are however finding it difficult to find financial backing, from our experience the funding available is going mostly to the likes of Virgin and BT who will still find it financially unfeasible to supply the areas that we can," said Rob Benson, a director at local internet provider Sonic Internet.

"They could quite easily use some of their billions of profit to do this themselves rather than take funding that other companies could use to efficiently fill in the voids that [they] leave behind."

Hunt also announced that starting next month telecoms regulator Ofcom will publish a "league table" of local broadband performance across the UK. We'd like to call this a 'name and shame' list, but suspect that both parties in the Government coalition would ask us not to. µ