Britain aims to be Europe’s technology centre

Ten major cities will get money to upgrade their broadband networks to speeds among the fastest in the world, the Chancellor confirmed. More money will also be made available to upgrade wireless networks in rural areas and on major roads, while an additional £50million will be made available to smaller cities to upgrade their broadband networks as well. Mr Osborne said ten cities, including Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Leeds and London would be upgraded, and that 90 per cent of the UK population would be able to access superfast fixed-line broadband. “To be Europe’s technology centre we also need to have the best infrastructure,” he said. He claimed modern ultrafast broadband services were key to Britain's “mod Critics argued that Britain was not investing enough in broadband, however. Morag Lucey, of Convergys Smart Revenue Solutions, who is preparing a report on the benfits of broadband with the London School of Economics, said the government was demanding too much from the private sector. "We are £1.1 billion short of reaching ‘superfast’ broadband for the UK, let alone ‘ultrafast’. That will not make us competitive in Europe, let alone the rest of the world," she claimed. Barney White-Spunner, Executive Chairman of the Countryside Alliance, claimed that "funding for ‘ultra-fast’ broadband for ten UK cities, ignores the plight of families and businesses in the countryside forced to rely on slow or non-existent broadband connections".