Labour backtracks on broadband targets

E-minister Patricia Hewitt has admitted Labour will not now set targets for the roll-out of broadband internet access in the UK.

This comes in the wake of earlier statements that the Labour Party wanted the UK to have better broadband access than the other 30 countries in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) by 2005.

The contradictory positions have sparked criticisms that the government is all talk and no action over one of the most vital issues affecting the UK economy.

The CSSA has suggested aggressive targets in its manifesto for the new government. It claims that any government should aim to have 0.5Mbps access to 90 per cent of UK businesses by July 2002 and 10Mbps to 95 per cent of the country by July 2005.

However, in an interview with silicon.com, Hewitt said: "It is too early to say how much people should be using", and as such the government would "not set targets for broadband".

Nonetheless, Hewitt added: "If it is not moving fast enough in the next year then we will look at other forms of intervention in the form of taxes or something like that."

Alan Duncan, shadow trade and industry minister, argued this is proof the current government is failing what has been dubbed 'broadband Britain'.

"Labour have had targets for almost everything but when it comes to broadband Britain they don't have any targets because they know they are not delivering."

But Duncan said the Conservative Party wouldn't set targets either - instead the Tories would rely on industry competition (a method which has so far failed) and rolling out fixed wireless broadband.

The Liberal Democrats were also critical of the government for not taking a stronger position on broadband.

Richard Allen, the Lib Dems spokesman on employment and information technology, said he was "disappointed" with Labour's position.

He added: "It has talked a good talk but we've only seen at the tail end of parliament, the action that was needed in the form of Ofcom.

"The licensing regime should include these [CSSA's] targets... I don't think there should be a situation where telecoms players can cherry pick the areas they want to go into to offer high value services."

What the manifestos say:

Conservative:
"Despite the importance of successfully rolling out broadband access the government's approach has failed. One of its key roles, through Oftel, should be opening up the local telecommunications network to competition, enabling all operators to offer a wide range of voice and data services directly to end users. This will not be achieved speedily and we lag behind our European competitors. The next Conservative government will make allocating the licences to ensure comprehensive coverage a priority and consult industry on the appropriate mechanism which does not undermine investment in the accompanying products."

Labour:
"We want the UK to have the most extensive and competitive broadband market in the G7 by 2005, with significantly increased broadband connections to schools, libraries, further education colleges and universities. One of the barriers to achieving this goal may be the fragmentation of demand, and one of the ways government is looking to tackle this would be by aggregating demand for bandwidth in the public sector in ways likely to stimulate investment by the private sector, particularly in rural areas. We will also need to benchmark the UK's performance against other countries and keep under review the need for further interventions and incentives to stimulate the market, especially outside major urban and business centres."

Liberal Democrats:
No specific mention. "The Liberal Democrats are committed to maintaining an environment that will allow the potential of ecommerce, privacy, taxation/tariffs and law enforcement to ensure the UK is a leader in ebusiness. But the key issue underpinning the success of the UK in the ecommerce age is the existence of widespread internet access for all."