MPs have warned that the government still has 'no clear plan' to roll out superfast broadband in the UK's most remote areas, despite the pandemic showing how crucial connectivity is.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says it is not convinced the government will meet its targets for the rollout of super-fast broadband across the country.
MPs warn that the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is relying too heavily on commercial contractors for the progress that has been made.
And DCMS’ goal of full coverage by 2030 "does not cover the very hardest to reach areas, which include around 134,000 premises."
Driven by the pandemic, good internet connectivity is now seen as crucial, being essential to almost every aspect of everyday life.
And despite farmers and growers increasingly using digital technologies to farm more efficiently, there are still many who struggle to make a phone call due to poor signals.
The NFU's 2020 digital technology report, based on a snapshot of 430 farmers, highlighted major division between rural and urban connectivity.
It showed that more than 40 percent of farms across the UK experienced sluggish broadband speeds, in turn hampering business growth.
In 2020, DCMS accepted that its original plan for delivering nationwide gigabit broadband across the country by 2025 was unachievable and revised that target down to 85% coverage by 2025.
DCMS reports that the proportion of premises in the UK with access to gigabit broadband leapt from 40% to 57% between May and October 2021.
But this is largely due to Virgin Media O2 upgrading its cable network, with the PAC saying the DCMS “has made little tangible progress in delivering internet connectivity beyond that achieved by the private sector”.
The department also has no detailed plan in place for reaching communities where it is not commercially viable to do so, MPs who sit on the PAC say.
The committee had already warned earlier this year that “failures with the rollout of superfast broadband across the UK risked exacerbating digital and economic inequality.”
It remains concerned that DCMS’ focus on “accelerating coverage through rollout by commercial operators rather than by prioritising those areas it knows are hardest to reach risks some of the areas that need improved connectivity most being once again left behind”.
Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair of the PAC said: “DCMS’ planning and project management show all the signs of the previous rollout – that the focus will continue to be on the easier to reach areas and there is still no clear plan for the hardest to reach communities.
"It can’t rely on the private sector to get fast broadband to the hardest to reach, excluded and rural areas," she added.
"Despite its repeated promises to do exactly that we are apparently little nearer to closing 'the great digital divide'” developing across the UK nor addressing the social and economic inequality it brings with it.”
