Broadband waitset to continue

VILLAGES in the Rye area still face a painfully slow wait for faster broadband internet speeds with the Government’s rural roll-out scheme said to be running two years behind schedule.
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Jul 2013, 16:00 BST

It is bad news for place like Winchelsea and Icklesham which already have some of slowest broadband speeds in the entire country.

The delay has met with fierce criticism from the Country Alliance.

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It’s executive chairman Barney White-Spunner said: “For a long time we have known this strategy is not making the inroads it needs to make to ensure that the UK has the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015.

“We now know that only nine of 44 broadband projects are projected to reach their 90% superfast coverage target by May 2015 and that in June the target deadline was extended to March 2017 – the project will be nearly two years late.”

The project is being handled by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which has ben criticised in a National Audit Office report.

Barney White-Spunner added: ““The UK needs an internet infrastructure that can meet the demands of a modern digital society and it is now time for DCMS to ensure that rural communities are included as part of the national infrastructure.”

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Broadband in some villages limps along at the snail’s pace of 1.1 Mbps making downloading and looking at websites a tortuous task for residents.

Richard Comotto from Winchelsea said: “I know we are supposed to be an ancient town but these speeds are ridiculous.”

Related topics:GovernmentRye