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Loopholes in Funding Plan for Digital Britain

The budget announcement about government aid to the Digital Britain project has drawn a lot of criticism from the broadband industry. In the announcement, Alistair Darling said that the government would be financially supporting the Digital Britain project of providing high-speed broadband to every household in the country.

Charles Trotman, Head, rural business development of the Country Land and Business Association, said that Darling’s promise has a major failing. As per the government proposal, the amount promised would only be fully released by 2012, by when the project should have actually concluded.

In a statement to The Guardian, he said that the announcement is confusing and does not give clarity on a number of issues. He had found the above-mentioned discrepancy only after looking through the entire financial report. Apparently, the amount being promised is actually the money saved from the switch to Digital TV. In this context, it is impossible for anyone to say how much would really be left. He said that the amount might in fact be less that the £250 million, which has been estimated in the report.

The plan of Universal Connectivity has already drawn a lot of negative reactions, and some are even saying that the speed limit of 2Mb is too low.

The chief of broadband analysis company Point Topic says that the investment mentioned in the budget was small when compared to the A$22 billion in Australia. He said that there weren’t enough details in the recent report and that he would be watching out for Lord Carter’s final Digital Britain report for more clarity.

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