North East MP's Digital Concerns for rural areas

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 17th Jun 2009

The Gordon MP expressed fears that North East rural households and businesses could still be left behind in the digital revolution

Local MP Malcolm Bruce MP urged the Government not to leave rural areas behind after the publication of the Digital Britain report today.

The report, which lays out the Government's plans for broadband roll-out across the UK, includes a 50p levy on fixed telephone lines to help pay for the investment. All national radio stations will be upgraded to digital by 2015, while 90% of the UK will have Next Generation Broadband by 2017.

Mr Bruce said:

"Few people will be satisfied with a guaranteed broadband speed of just 2Mbps when many Internet Service Providers are currently offering packages of 8-10Mbps.

"Superfast broadband rollout has been earmarked for 2017 and has the potential to offer speeds of over 50Mbp. Any small, rural business trying to compete against their urban rivals who have access to these faster speeds and newer technologies will be left behind in the slow lane."

ENDS