Govt defends super-fast broadband strategy

The government has defended its approach to establishing a UK-wide broadband network after receiving criticism from BT's former chief technology officer Peter Cochrane.

A spokesman at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said the suggestion that the government "lacks vision and doesn't understand the necessity of broadband" is wide of the mark, Computing reports.

Speaking to the news source last week, Mr Cochrane argued Communications Minister Ed Vaizey failed to grasp the importance of broadband and criticised his suggestion that a 2Mbps connection would be good enough for UK households.

He added the UK is lagging behind many nations in south-east Asia when it comes to planning cutting-edge broadband infrastructure.

The DCMS representative explained 2Mbps is a minimum target for homes and businesses "located in areas that are either remote or geographically challenging".

"Our target is for 90 per cent of homes and businesses in each local authority area to have access to super-fast broadband by 2015," the spokesman added.

Mr Cochrane also criticised the suggestion that there is no need for fibre-to-the-home networks in the UK, which prompted BT to respond by stating demand for the technology is not high enough at present.