Business

Osborne puts broadband first in Budget

The development of broadband networks in the UK is a priority for the government, chancellor George Osborne said during his Budget speech on Wednesday.The National Infrastructure Plan, outlined during the speech, identifies broadband as one of the projects first in line for government funding over the next decade.

Written by Karen Friar, Contributor March 21, 2012 at 6:29 a.m. PT

The development of broadband networks in the UK is a priority for the government, chancellor George Osborne said during his Budget speech on Wednesday.

The National Infrastructure Plan, outlined during the speech, identifies broadband as one of the projects first in line for government funding over the next decade. Osborne said he wanted to "turn Britain into Europe's technology centre" and to do this the UK needs "the best technology infrastructure".

George Osborne has presented the latest UK Budget, which includes £50m for super-fast broadband provision in small cities. Image credit: The Prime Minister's Office/Crown copyright

The chancellor announced £50m will be set aside to pay for super-fast broadband and Wi-Fi connectivity in small cities, to add to the funding going to 10 large cities in the country: Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and London.

"We should not be complacent by saying it is enough to be the best in Europe when countries like Korea and Singapore do even better," Osborne said.

Find more details on this story here.

Editorial standards

Show Comments

Osborne puts broadband first in Budget

Related

Not into the Tesla Powerwall? You can now buy the Anker Solix X1

Facebook's Meta AI is lying when it says you can disable it - but here's what you can do

The best AI image generators to try right now