Tories promise superfast broadband by 2017

Osborne said that private investors will help fund the rollout

A Conservative government would use part of the BBC licence fee to fund the rollout of superfast broadband to the UK, according to shadow chancellor George Osborne.

Osborne claimed on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show yesterday that the party will aim to deliver speeds of 100Mbit/s to most homes by 2017.

This would be achieved by changing the regulatory framework around broadband infrastructure to encourage private investors to fund the majority of the rollout and allow them to pay for better cabling as well.

However, Osborne conceded that this approach would not be an attractive proposition in rural areas, and that this is where the 3.5 per cent of the BBC licence fee currently being spent on digital switchover preparations would be used to fund the deployment.

Jeremy Hunt, shadow culture, media and sport secretary, added that, while Britain is one of the slowest countries in the developed world for broadband, it would become one of the fastest under the Conservatives.

"We have some of the most powerful and successful creative industries, and this is a huge opportunity when we're trying to get out of recession. But if we're going to do that we have to have the proper infrastructure," Hunt told Channel 4 News.

"We're talking about Britain being the first major European country to have a superfast broadband network."

The plan for 100Mbit/s connections represents a significant increase on the Labour Party's current rollout speeds of 2Mbit/s by 2012, and the party was quick to dismiss the Conservatives plans.

Treasury minister Stephen Timms said that the Tories were "playing catch-up" , and that his party's nationwide rollout plan had actually been opposed by the Tories.