The government's investment in super-fast broadband pales in comparison to the billions of pounds of public money that will be spent on the HS2 high-speed rail project.
Few would argue that the faster rail link between London and Birmingham, which will eventually be extended to Manchester and Leeds, will be anything other than a positive for businesses in England. But will this hugely expensive development really deliver greater benefits than universal access to next-generation broadband?
Some £530 million has been allocated by the Conservative-led coalition to deliver the best super-fast broadband network in Europe by 2015. Of this total, £294.8 million will be divided among the English counties, while Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have been awarded £4.4 million, £68.8 million and £56.9 million respectively.
This isn't the only money the government has pledged to improve broadband infrastructure across the UK, with up to ten cities set to benefit from the £100 million urban broadband fund and £20 million of broadband cash to be divided among rural communities.
While we're not knocking this vital investment at a time when the pressure on the national coffers is huge, it just doesn't make sense to us that far more will be spent on the HS2 link.
An estimated £32 billion will be spent on constructing the Y-shaped HS2 rail link connecting London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
Faster transport links are clearly vital to encouraging economic growth as they will slash the journey times between some of the UK's biggest cities. But the goal of improving connectivity between different cities can be achieved just as effectively by bringing super-fast broadband services within reach of every resident and business in Britain.
Whereas the environmental impact of the HS2 project has been criticised, faster broadband could actually reduce the country's carbon footprint by allowing more people to work at home.
Technologies such as video conferencing, which rely on high bandwidth and a reliable broadband connection, also lessen the need for face-to-face meetings.