Superfast Internet On The Way

The government has revealed plans to boost the UK broadband network in Europe by 2015.

By the end of this Parliament, under a new plan titled Britain's Superfast Broadband Future, the government will invest around £830m launching a digital hub across every community.

The high-speed hubs will extend internet access across the country.

So far, more than 70% of UK households have broadband internet with almost half accessing superfast 50-Mbps service.

The new plans would raise the number with access to a superfast connection to 90%.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the plan would attract private sector investment into the reliable and secure superfast network and lower existing barriers.

The move would help the UK's economic growth, while a further £50m investment into a second wave of pilot projects would see how digital hubs in remote rural areas would work.

Mr Hunt said: "A superfast network will be the foundation for a new economic dynamism, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and adding billions to our GDP.

"But it is not just about the economy, around the world there are countless examples of superfast broadband helping to build a fairer and more prosperous society, and to transform the relationship between government and citizens."

He also added that moving government services online would help save billions of pounds of taxpayers' money.

Future plans also include moves to allow the development of next-generation mobile services.

(BMcN)