Oops / The Government’s pledge to provide superfast broadband is going super slowly

The Government’s pledge to provide superfast broadband is going super slowly, the National Audit Office has said.

The plans to  rollout superfast broadband available to 90pc of UK areas is two years behind schedule, the NAO has said in a report. Only nine out of 44 local projects are expected to be completed by the stated deadline of May 2015.

Rural fibre broadband scheme ‘two years behind schedule’

The Rural Broadband Programme – The Satellite Solution To The Forgotten 5%

There’s less competition than expected too, with BT alone receiving £1.2bn of public money. The hold-up is partly due to the difficulty in getting approval for the project under European state aid rules. Last month the Government revised its target and now aims to delivery the rural programme by December 2016. The criticisms are limited to rural broadband, not BT’s commercial roll-out which is 18-months ahead of schedule.

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