Tories challenge BT and BBC as part of ‘100MB broadband’ pledge
If elected, the Conservatives are promising to deliver super-fast 100mb broadband by 2017, challenging both BT and BBC in the process.
The party said it is confident that the UK Kingdom can become the first major European country to have internet speeds of up to 100 megabits per second by 2017.
The Conservatives have said they intend to break up what they described as British Telecom’s monopoly on providing internet connections, if they win this year’s General Election.
Private investors from companies such as Carphone Warehouse and Sky would be given permission to use BT cables to provide the service.
And if the market did not deliver, then a Tory government would extend the 3.5 per cent levy on the BBC license fee, currently being used for digital switchover, to pay for broadband expansion.
The Tories say they will end BT's "local loop monopoly" and allow other operators to move in with their own ducts and fibre cables, an approach that has proved successful in countries such as Singapore and South Korea.
The party believes that using "market-based solutions” and allowing private investors to pay for better cabling would encourage competition.
For the full story log on to: NetImperative.
Source: Net Imperative