Industry reacts positively to UK broadband plans

Jeremy Hunt has announced several measures to deliver broadband to all UK citizens

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt's announcement on Tuesday that the government will push ahead with plans to accelerate the UK's broadband infrastructure has met with a generally positive reaction.

Hunt said that he may consider legislation that would force infrastructure providers to open up their assets in order to drive broadband deployment and tackle the digital divide.

Antony Walker, chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholders Group, praised Hunt for outlining the government's plans for broadband and giving the industry a clear goal.

"The indication that the government wants to get next-generation access into hard-to-reach areas is positive, as is the announcement that they are looking to run a number of trials on how this could best be achieved," he said.

"However, the government will not have a lot of money to play with, so it must make sure it spends wisely on these trials and doesn't overlap with areas where the market alone could provide services."

Walker added that Hunt's threat of introducing legislation if necessary to get infrastructure opened up should be used as a last resort, and felt that an incentive-led scheme could be more beneficial.

Andrew Heaney, executive director of TalkTalk, backed Hunt's move to open up network infrastructures, but argued that the government could help deployments by improving legislation in this area.

"It seems like a sound approach grounded in enabling private sector deployment by allowing infrastructure sharing and assessing the case for public funds elsewhere," he said.

"However, there are other areas that need addressing, such as the arcane rates system that discourages [building new networks], and ensuring that public networks offer cost-effective open access."