Hung government could threaten the future of UK broadband

The Broadband Stakeholders’ Group (BSG) has warned the outcome of next year’s general election could have a big effect on next-gen broadband roll-out, especially if the Conservative party gets into power.

Unfortunately, because of the imminent general election and without knowing what the result will be the BSG has warned private investors will be reluctant to cough up the cash needed to start the ball rolling. The two parties have very different views on the importance of broadband provision across the UK. Whilst Labour has pledged to provide every household in the UK with a minimum broadband connection of 2Mb by 2012, the Conservatives have already aired views this is not a priority.

During a Westminster forum, Anthony Walker, chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholder Group highlighted the two very different approaches held by the Labour and Conservative parties: “We have two quite different roadmaps for broadband,” he said. “There is the Labour industrial activism approach, which I call the nuts and bolts… and the heart of that is that we know there is a problem coming up.”

He continued: “The Conservative approach is very different … it looks at the market mechanism, looking for a new market entry [and to] grown the value of the market in the hope that the market exceeds the expectations that we expect today and actually delivers more.”

Walker warned the roll-out of broadband could be in jeopardy if the UK ends up with a hung parliament.
 

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