(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/Gorazd Bertalanic)
UK ministers are under increasing pressure to allocate a recent £258 million windfall to accelerate fast broadband access in rural areas.
The funds were returned after British telecommunications firm BT gave back part of a one-off £1.2 billion subsidy originally provided to help roll out fast broadband—defined at the time as 24 Mbps—across the UK. The subsidy had been based on BT’s internal projection that roughly one in five households would subscribe to the upgraded service.
BT later reported that uptake exceeded its expectations: nearly one in three households signed up for the faster service. Because demand proved higher than forecast, BT returned a portion of the subsidy to the government.
MPs, local campaigners and industry groups are urging the government to reinvest this returned money into extending automatic fast broadband rollout so more rural homes and businesses can benefit. Former Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps urged officials to redeploy the funds quickly, arguing the money was effectively already committed to improving nationwide broadband.
He said the funds “must be ploughed back into speeding up our nation’s broadband as quickly as possible,” adding that doing so would meet the original intent of the subsidy.
Local authorities have said only councils that joined the government broadband programme will be eligible to request allocations from the returned funds.
Mark Hawthorne, chair of the Local Government Association’s People and Places Board, welcomed the announcement. He said councils—who have been campaigning to improve connectivity through initiatives like the Up to Speed campaign—are eager to reinvest the windfall to ensure homes and businesses fully benefit.
The Telegraph has also launched a Better Broadband campaign, responding to ministers’ decision not to automatically extend the basic 10 Mbps broadband rollout to the remaining roughly 5% of the UK currently uncovered. Ministers have suggested that some residents in the most remote areas do not want or would not accept connections, but extending the programme would require around one million households to actively request broadband connections, and in some cases to pay extra to secure them.
The Labour Party has backed the Better Broadband campaign. Shadow Communities Secretary Jon Trickett called for the returned funds to be used to reach the most remote parts of the country, so more communities can gain reliable broadband access.
Campaigners and taxation professionals have warned that leaving rural areas without automatic broadband connections could have wider consequences. Thousands of small businesses and sole traders in poorly connected areas risk being excluded from digital tax systems that require online filing. Between 2018 and 2020, the government planned to phase in new digital tax services, which many fear will create serious difficulties for those with limited or unreliable internet access.
Michael Steed, president of the Association of Taxation Technicians, cautioned that expecting people with unreliable internet to complete digital tax returns will likely lead to inaccuracies and widespread frustration. He added that the government had not adequately addressed how it would support taxpayers in these circumstances.
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