Rural-broadband campaigners sell out in the City

Next week's Rural and Regional Broadband Conference could play an important role in shaping the roadmap of Broadband Britain in the months and years ahead.

The event, organised by the Access to Broadband Campaign (ABC), will take place on 9 July and has sold out. It will bring together government and industry representatives and community activists, to address the issue of the broadband divide.

It has been well-supported by the public and private sector -- including BT, the South East England Development Agency, IBM and wireless network provider Airspan -- proof that rural-broadband rollout is a key issue beyond the grass roots.

"We've been overwhelmed by the response to the ABC conference. The top-level support we have received confirms that this is a very live agenda," John Wilson, one of ABC's founders, told ZDNet UK on Friday.

"The Broadband Britain challenge will only be met by government, industry and the community working together to make it happen," Wilson added.

The Rural and Regional Broadband Conference will see contributions from the Department of Trade and Industry, several technology companies, including BT and Alvarion, and a number of community-broadband pioneers.

There will also be a keynote speech from Dr Peter Cochrane, co-founder of ConceptLabs and former chief technologist at BT.

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