Digital Britain report offers hope to Springbank

9.59.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 17th Jun 2009

CHELTENHAM MP Martin Horwood has today given a cautious welcome to the Digital Britain report on the future of broadband and other digital communications. Secretary of State Ben Bradshaw announced several measures that could make broadband services better and faster in areas like Springbank in Cheltenham which has suffered from poor broadband speeds because of its distance from the central Cheltenham exchange. The minister specifically referred to clusters in urban areas that suffered from a poor service.

Martin lobbied ministers and made a submission to the review that preceded the report in March this year. He argued that in a recession it was particularly important to support homes and businesses in urban areas like Springbank where there was a poor service.

"I'm pleased to see some of our concerns have been addressed" said Martin "A Universal Service Commitment will be introduced by 2012 that will guarantee residents in Springbank and elsewhere at least a 2mb per second connection and in the longer-term a fund to establish much, much faster connections. The level of commitment in the USC is disappointing - 2mb per second isn't very fast compared to the 50mb per second that will be delivered to some homes by cable this summer. I might disagree with the £6 it is going to add to every phone bill each year and I think there are fairer ways to fund it, but I'm pleased that the government accepts that public money has to be spent to bring us up to speed with the rest of Europe. This report does offer us hope of a better service in the next few years and I will continue to argue with providers that now they know they will have to meet this commitment in three years' time, they should start to make improvements in urban areas like Springbank even sooner. "