“… Tessa Munt, Liberal Democrat MP for Wells, Somerset, said the coverage of “super-fast” connections “hardly meets the needs of rural businesses and residents”.
According to the latest data published by Ofcom, just 44% of Somerset gets the fastest hook-up. Devon is also in the slow-lane, boasting just 45% coverage. Cornwall, meanwhile, is up to 72% – principally thanks to extra EU cash.
However, London boroughs can expect 100% coverage and even Plymouth is up to 94%.
MPs on the influential Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee already fear getting the connections to 95% of the country will miss its 2017 target. Some MPs are also concerned about the dominance of telecoms giant BT, which has scooped all 44 regional contracts under the Broadband Delivery UK programme.
Campaigners have further voiced their fears over scrapping an open tender process to get broadband to the final 5% hardest-to-reach areas in Devon and Somerset.
The move will effectively hand the second phase of the roll-out in the two counties to BT under the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme.”
East Devon Watch 