Funding for rural broadband

The Government has allocated nearly £363m for rural areas in England and Scotland to improve their broadband connections, but the Scottish government says more should have been given.

The biggest amounts have been allocated to Devon & Somerset (£31.3m), North Yorkshire (£17.8m) and Cumbria (£17m), where 96 per cent of homes are eligible for Government subsidies to pay for broadband connections.

Scotland will receive £68.8m from the UK government, though Alex Neil, the Scottish Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment, said the allocation was "unrealistic" for the work that needed to be done and said he hoped to "secure a better deal for Scotland".

In his statement on the funding announcement, Mr Neil said "there would still appear to be money remaining from the £530m broadband fund", which could be used in Scotland.

The cost of improving rural broadband in the Highlands and Islands area alone has been estimated at up to £300m, he said. It will be up to the Scottish government to decide how to use the money, although it has not yet made plans to do so.

Wales and Northern Ireland have already been allocated funding of £56.9m and £4.4m respectively.

Until now, the low returns offered to internet service providers by rural broadband investments meant there has been little improvement in rural broadband quality.

By contrast, Berkshire, where only eight per cent of homes are eligible for subsidies, received £1.4m and London received nothing, as it is assumed that private investment will cover the capital. South Yorkshire also received no funding because a separate Digital Region project should cover broadband improvement costs in the area.

However, the Digital Region Project has recently run into difficulties as, unlike the regions receiving government funding, no major internet providers have signed up to it.

The Countryside Alliance praised the overall initiative, but said it doubted the £530m of funds would be enough to push the UK to the top of the broadband table.