Job still to do to ensure new legal right to broadband delivery for rural consumers, says CLA

Job still to do to ensure new legal right to broadband delivery for rural consumers

The CLA is calling for Ministers to set out clear plans for how the new ‘legal right to broadband’ contained in the Digital Economy Bill will work in practice, as Peers gathered to debate the Bill on Tuesday 13 December.

A universal service obligation (USO) would place a legal duty on government and the industry to ensure that every home and business across the UK has access to an internet connection of at least 10 megabits per second and if enacted by Parliament will take effect in 2020.

CLA President Ross Murray said: “Establishing a legal right to broadband is a major breakthrough in ending the digital divide. There is a risk that the impact of the USO could get lost in bureaucratic wrangling between industry lawyers and Ofcom. This consumer protection will only make a major difference if people who live and work in the countryside are made aware of their rights and can exercise them easily. There is still a job to do to ensure rural consumers get the internet connections they need.

“Under a USO any rural business owner receiving less than a minimum standard of service must have easy access to a mechanism by which their connection or service is improved. The legally set minimum standard must also move upwards regularly to ensure that service levels keep pace with consumer and business demand.”

CLA North Rural Advisor Libby Bateman, added: “We will hold government to account on extending broadband to rural areas. It is literally about getting up to speed with urban areas in an economic sense.”

The CLA set out new thinking on the future of digital connectivity at the Rural Business Conference 2016.