A forum has been hosted by WightFibre to discuss rural broadband on the Island following a report into the failed objectives of the roll out of high-speed broadband by BT Openreach.
A recent report by a cross party group of 121 MP’s entitled ‘BroadBad’ revealed that despite £1.7bn of taxpayers’ cash pumped into subsidising the construction of UK high-speed broadband through BT Openreach, the project has failed to meet its objectives; leaving many businesses and communities across the Isle of Wight and the UK reporting problems with their internet connection and costing the UK economy and estimated £11bn.
WightFibre, a company that has been providing superfast fibre optic broadband to the Island since 2001, has recently hosted a Rural Broadband Forum at Tapnell Farm to bring together representatives of the Island’s rural business community to discuss the issue and give their views on the affect across rural parts of the Island.
Homes and businesses across the Islands rural areas are struggling and in many cases unnecessarily to get fast broadband. Some unable to receive broadband at all, others limited in the speed of connectivity and issue that is inhibiting many from making better use of the internet and for some making it an impossible proposition.
John Irvine, Chairman of the Forum and CEO of WightFibre comments:
“Despite the recent completion of the Isle of Wight Council’s Rural Broadband Project, superfast broadband is still not available in many areas on the island. This forum has served to highlight this and the resultant challenges facing island businesses. It was great to hear this first hand from the businesses and organisations most badly affected. The island needs a fresh approach to the problem with the use of new technologies and ideas, not an ongoing reliance on BT who are systematically failing to deliver”.
A White Paper will follow the forum reflecting on the issues, the ‘BroadBad Report’ and what more can be done to ensure that rural communities across the Island have access to the broadband and communication services they need.
A copy of the report can be found at: https://www.shapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Broadbad-FINAL.pdf.
