Chancellor to spend £1bn to boost broadband speeds

The current rural broadband roll-out is 'not sufficient' to meet the needs of most farmers
The current rural broadband roll-out is 'not sufficient' to meet the needs of most farmers

The chancellor will deploy more than £1bn to boost broadband speeds for up to 2 million homes and businesses as part of an infrastructure plan to be outlined in the autumn statement.

The current rural broadband roll-out is 'not sufficient' to meet the needs of most farmers, according to a report.

The government has said it is committed to making the UK the 'best connected country in the world', but farmers are already being held back by poor connections.

The report, published by the NFU, said it was vital for connections to be improved. 850 members responded to the NFU Digital Technology Survey, carried out during the summer of 2015.

"I employ four people and in 50% of the farm we can’t get in contact with each other over the mobile," said one farmer, "we sometimes have no connection, but on average have between 0.3 and 0.6 Mbps.

"Our biggest hurdle is not being able to attract potential tenants to our converted sheds to offices, as the connection is too weak," said another respondent.

Responding to calls from business for the government to back the digital economy, Chancellor Philip Hammond will back a £400m digital infrastructure fund, which the Treasury expects will be matched by private sector investors.

He will also offer local authorities the chance to bid for a slice of a £740m fund to trial superfast 5G mobile networks, linking them to fibre-optic systems to provide greater wireless capacity.