The government is to commit more money to improving mobile phone coverage across the country and also wants to see faster broadband for the majority of homes and businesses in the UK, according to the Budget statement.
There is £600m being allocated to clearing an existing broadcast wavelength for more 4G mobile phone use, with the new frequencies to be auctioned off in the next parliament.
The Chancellor claimed that ‘super-fast’ broadband is now available to 80% of the population with 40,000 extra premises being connected each week.
The government now has “a new ambition” that ultrafast broadband of at least 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) should be available to nearly all UK premises. However, no time scale was announced.
The government will also take “further action” (as yet, unspecified) to support the delivery of broadband in rural areas, including looking to raise the Universal Service Obligation from dial-up speeds to 5 Mbps broadband, and subsidising the costs of installing superfast capable satellite services.
