Mark Garnier, Wyre Forest’s Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, today welcomed new Conservative plans to deliver the roll out of superfast broadband at speeds of up to 100 Mbps across the West Midlands by 2017.
Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, commented: "If Britain's digital and creative industries are to become world beaters they must have a proper communications infrastructure. We are currently one of the slowest countries in the developed world for broadband. With the Conservatives we'll become one of the fastest. High speeds will be available not just in our cities but across the rural areas that have been left behind for too long."
Conservatives have unveiled alternative proposals to increase competition and introduce superfast broadband across the United Kingdom. The action plan will:
· Open up BT’s ‘local loop’ monopoly to other telecommunication operators, and review unfair business rate rules.
· Investigate the use of sewers and other utility infrastructure to lay broadband cables.
· Allow telegraph poles to be fitted with fibre optic cables, rather than old fashioned copper wire.
· Ensure that all new homes are capable of receiving superfast broadband through a fibre to the home network.
· Use money currently allocated to the digital TV national switchover to help establish a universal network, and after 2012, look at using this money to ensure superfast broadband reaches rural areas.
At present, 83% of homes in the West Midlands have a fixed telephone line, yet just 57% - the lowest in the country - have access to some form of broadband internet access.
Mark Garnier said: “One of the biggest challenges facing Wyre Forest in the next few years is kick starting the local economy. In order to do that we need all the right tools available and superfast broadband is one of those tools. It has been estimated that a superfast broadband infrastructure would benefit the UK’s economy with an extra 600,000 ICT jobs and an additional £18 billion added to GDP – not including the indirect impact such a network would have on creative industries. This provides an opportunity for Wyre Forest not just in taking advantage of the opportunities presented by having this powerful communication network, but also from the extra jobs created by rolling out the network.”