Government accused of lowering superfast broadband to 15Mbit/s

The government has come under fire for seemingly lowering the minimum speed that qualifies as superfast broadband to 15Mbit/s for firms that want funding to deliver internet access in rural areas.

In May, the government said it was targeting 25Mbit/s and above superfast broadband for 90 per cent of the population by 2015 as it seeks to turbo-charge the nation's internet infrastructure.

However, in a tender document issued by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and seen by V3.co.uk, firms can apply for funding if they have previously delivered speeds of between 15Mbit/s and 50Mbit/s, and 50Mbit/s and above.

This would suggest the government considers superfast broadband can be broken into these two categories, both of which also fall short of European Commission targets for broadband.

The EC wants 50 per cent of citizens to have 100Mbit/s and above and 50 per cent to have 30Mbit/s or above by 2020.

While the figures could be argued to be a guide for ISPs to prove they have the technical abilities to provide fast broadband speeds, those in the industry were sceptical.

Malcolm Corbett, chief executive of the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (Inca), told V3.co.uk that the figures seemed to contradict previous statements made by the government. He added that Inca members were disappointed with the document.

"We've gone from Jeremy Hunt promising us the best broadband network in Europe by 2015, which was quite a strong statement, to working towards a situation where we'll invest all this money and still be behind the rest of Europe," he said.

"I was speaking with someone from Fujitsu on Wednesday who said they thought the figures in the document showed a clear lack of ambition as they believe speeds in excess of what's cited in the tender can be delivered, even to rural areas."

V3.co.uk is awaiting a response from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the issue.

BDUK announced the first wave of £50m funding for four counties, Devon and Somerset, Wiltshire and Norfolk, in May.