Rory Stewart: Rural communities must help pay for their broadband provision

Last updated at 13:18, Thursday, 14 June 2012

Rural communities will have to take some responsibility for financing broadband roll-outs if they are want superfast speeds, Cumbrian MP Rory Stewart has warned.

The Penrith and the Border MP made the point while giving evidence at a House of Lords’ communications select committee hearing this week on superfast broadband delivery.

Mr Stewart said that Government subsidies would not be enough to bridge the gap and support private investment in many rural areas so communities would have to find their own funding solutions.

He said: “The assessments vary, but it costs between £10bn and £40bn for centralised procurement to deliver fibre to every home. The government has decided to spend £550m.

“The proposals of serving rural communities are still not attractive…without some degree of public money…and it won’t ever be sufficient. Communities will have to put in time and effort and money to plug the gap.”

The solution, he suggested, was chemes such as Great Asby Broadband, which has managed to deliver a fixed line of 10Mbps to the village hall and provide wireless connections to the small number of residents in the area for a relatively small £60,000.

Miles Mandelson, chairman of Great Asby Broadband, told the select committee that although Great Asby Broadband was a lot cheaper than the central procurement process, it was still tough to get funding from the government.

Mr Stewart suggested the government should examine “soft loans” to allow communities to fund their own broadband projects, but get the cash upfront from Westminster.

“To work with communities you have to take a risk…and put in public money. You have to get to a point where you are willing to lose public money,” he added.

“I think the best way to do this is a soft loan. It works out as £600 a home over 20 years, at a low interest rate costing [residents] roughly £25 a year. It puts the risks onto communities…that already don’t have broadband, so the [worst case] is they will still have no broadband at the end.”

First published at 13:17, Thursday, 14 June 2012
Published by http://www.in-cumbria.com