North Warwickshire and Bedworth’s representative in Parliament has called on the Government to do more to ensure areas in his constituency are not forgotten when it comes to superfast internet.
Craig Tracey MP wrote to the Minister responsible for Broadband outlining local frustrations:
‘It appears that where BT are installing Superfast Broadband in urban areas they are leaving out certain cabinets, leaving local residents to pick up the cost of installation through their Community Funding initiative. I imagine that leaving the installation of such areas to be carried out as a separate small job would involve a much greater cost to local residents than it would have been to Openreach if they had undertaken the works as part of an overall scheme.
‘It seems counterintuitive that while time and resources are being spent in investigating the connection of hard to reach areas to superfast broadband, BT should be able to leave out pockets of easy to reach areas when installing the service.
‘I am concerned that BT are being entrusted with the installation of this vital piece of national infrastructure and are being permitted to leave pockets of urban areas unconnected due to commercial considerations. Please could you look into this matter?’
Minister of State for Digital and Culture, Matt Hancock responded by pointing out the range of choices to customer – alternatives from BT:
‘Over 90% of UK premises are now able to connect to superfast broadband, and we are on track to reach 95% by the end of next year…North Warwickshire and Bedworth has considerable commercial competition Virgin Media is active…Warwickshire also has a thriving smaller alternative provider sector with suppliers like Gigaclear, Warwicknet and City-Fibre…a longer list of providers can be found at www.connectionvouchers.co.uk/city/coventry...these suppliers are participating in the better broadband scheme and could provide an ideal interim solution until a superfast terrestrial connection is available.’
Mr Tracey explained:
“I know the availability of superfast broadband is now a necessity, I have campaigned on this issue in Parliament and this access is vital to local businesses and households. I am pleased that the Government is committed to the Universal Service Obligation which will give every premises in the UK access to at least 10Mbps as a minimum. However, we have seen recently that some broadband cabinets have not been connected with BT’s role out which means some residents in North Warwickshire and Bedworth are missing out. I think that the Minister raises a useful point that there are other providers out there and local providers. I would urge residents to look into these options to get the best possible connection for them.”