A government pledge giving everyone the right to faster broadband is welcome news – but not the end of the story, says the Rural Services Network.

The government has promised that everyone in the UK will have a legal right to an affordable broadband connection of at least 10 Mbps by 2020.

It follows the laying of legislation setting out the design of the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

    See also: Faster broadband to be legal right

Ofcom now has up to two years to implement the scheme, by which time everyone in the UK will have a legal right to a connection of at least 10 Mbps.

Digital minister Margot James said the connection would be from a designated provider and regardless of location up to a reasonable cost threshold.

    Necessity

“In the 21st century, accessing the internet is a necessity not a luxury,” she said.

“We are building a Britain that is fit for the future, and we’re now putting high speed broadband on a similar footing as other essential services like water and phone lines.

The government believes that only a regulatory USO offers certainty and the legal enforceability that is required to ensure high speed broadband access for the whole of the UK.

Some 95% of the UK already has access to superfast broadband, and the USO would provide a “digital safety net” for those in the most remote and hardest to reach places, it said.

Responding to the news, RSN chief executive Graham Biggs MBE said: “This is welcome news – and something that is badly needed.

    Sadly lacking

"Adequate broadband is a vital service which is sadly lacking in many rural communities.

"As an organisation we have calling for faster and more reliable rural broadband connections for a number of years. We are pleased to see that at last the government has listened.

“But this is not the end of the story – and the government's announcement itself leaves some important questions unanswered.

"Who, for example, decides whether a premises can or cannot get 10 Mbps already? Just because a street cabinet is broadband-enabled does not mean that every outlying premises can access it.

"Will a 10 Mbps connection be enough by 2020?

"And if a provider says the connection cost exceeds the £3,400 threshold, will their calculation be available for inspection – or even a challenge – and how will demand aggregation work?"