ISPA warns of confusion over future broadband speeds

Communities across the UK are still not sure what broadband speeds they will get under the government's policy, according to Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) council member Trefor Davies.

The Conservative-led coalition has put forward enough funding to deliver super-fast broadband to 90 per cent of the population by the end of 2015, but the remaining one-tenth of the country will have to make do with minimum speeds of 2Mbps.

Mr Davies, who is also the chief technology officer at communications service provider Timico, said the issue for the most rural communities is to decide how they fund the rollout of services offering faster rates than the 2Mbps benchmark.

"That is down to communities to get together to pay for the extra cabling and fibre, et cetera," he explained. "Things are happening, but it is not clear at this point who is going to get what."

Just a matter of days ago, the government's super-fast broadband strategy was criticised by the House of Lords Communications Committee, which warned the current approach will leave rural areas lagging behind their urban counterparts.

Rather than focusing on boosting speeds, the coalition was urged to concentrate on increasing access to connectivity.