Hunt confirms Treasury funding for broadband 'not spots'

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced that the government has secured support from the Treasury to help try and close the digital divide in rural areas.

In an update on his blog, he wrote: "Treasury support secured to deal with 'not spots' and rural superfast broadband pilots. More details to be announced at an industry forum next week - this will be a vital part of our economic growth strategy."

The Tories have been keen to promote a market led approach to providing broadband to the final third of the country, so it will be interesting to see the size and scale of the investment it has secured.

Earlier today BT announced it had helped a rural village in Kent achieve the rollout of fibre that would achieve speeds of up to 40Mbit/s by providing its own investment to match funds raised by the local parish council.

No doubt the sort of thing Hunt was hoping would help start to fill the gaps in the broadband map of the UK.

08 Jul 2010