Blackspot: Hambledon residents cannot access fast broadband internet
BT chairman Sir Michael Rake has outraged neighbours in the small Oxfordshire village where he lives, after it emerged he had been picked to take part in a trial of high-speed broadband internet.
Despite having lived in Hambledon, near Henley-on-Thames, for just a year, Sir Michael was the sole resident of the internet 'not spot' - where access to fast broadband is not commercially feasible - to be chosen for the nationwide trial testing the ability of 10 telephone exchanges to deliver a high speed broadband signal.
Resident Gary Ashworth, the executive chairman of Abacus Recruitment, has been forced to wait five years for fast broadband access, and was quoted £68,000 by BT when he asked what the charge would be for connecting his house to the network.
'I think it stinks of corruption,' he said.
'The chairman of BT is given preferential treatment.
'I run a business and we probably have 1,000 BT lines. Clearly there is preferential treatment if you happen to be the chairman. I think it is a disgrace.'
A BT spokesman said Sir Michael was chosen to test the ability of the network to access BT's corporate network, with a view to other large companies being able to have staff access secure networks remotely.
'Large companies often conduct trials among staff in the early stages so the lessons learnt remain in-house,' the spokesman said. 'The current trial includes staff from throughout BT, as well as customers.'
Tory Wycombe MP Paul Goodman said: 'Unless all BT staff members are entitled to participate in the trial on exactly the same terms, I think some of my constituents will find this very strange.'
Rural areas like Hambledon have been described by the Prince of Wales as 'broadband deserts', with 2.75million people stuck with slow broadband and another 166,000 unable to access the internet at all.
The Government has promised to have the entire nation connected to fast (greater than two megabits per second) broadband by 2012, with a 'broadband tax' of 50p per month on phone bills to fund the upgrade, which would run until 2017.
Related Articles:
President to inaugurate Palapa Ring project
No comments:
Post a Comment