Amanda Milling, Member of Parliament for Cannock Chase, has co-signed a report demanding action over superfast broadband.
A new report published by a cross party group of MPs claims 5.7 million people across the UK still cannot access the internet at the speed required by Ofcom, which is 10 Megabits per second. That is despite £1.7 billion of taxpayers' cash being pumped into subsidising the construction of high-speed broadband.
Amanda Milling has co-signed the report, released by the British Infrastructure Group of MPs. The report, entitled 'BroadBad' is calling on the regulator to take radical action over what it calls BT Openreach's 'natural monopoly.' The report, which details connection speeds in every part of the country, argues that given our modern economy is so reliant on the internet, it is time to stop being held back by 'BT's lack of ambition and under-investment.'
Amanda Milling said: "In 2016 people rightly expect access to high-speed internet connections. Whether at home or work, fast broadband should be a reality in all our communities. Sadly, this is not yet the case. In Cannock Chase we have one street giving the fastest broadband connection in the country, however this is not the norm across all of Cannock Chase. Local residents are dealing with some of the slowest average speeds in the country, poor connections and gaps in services. In fact Cannock Chase falls into the bottom third for some of the report's key findings. I believe Britain should be leading the world in digital innovation. Yet instead we suffer from having a BT run monopoly clinging to outdated copper technology with no proper long-term plan for the future. We need to start converting to a fully fibre network so we are not left behind by other nations who are rushing to embrace digital advancement."
The reports key findings include –
· Openreach has so far received £1.7 billion in taxpayer subsidies to connect harder to reach areas of the UK to superfast services, but has repeatedly failed to deliver.
· Around 5.7 million people in the UK have internet connections that do not reach Ofcom's 'acceptable' minimum speed of 10Mbit/s. 3.5 million of these people live in rural areas.
· Poor internet connections are costing the UK economy up to £11 billion per year.
· 42% of SMEs report experiencing problems with their internet connectivity and 29% also report poor service reliability.
· Following the announcement that BT will be merging with EE it has been calculated that BT will have a 40% share of the retail telecoms market and a 70% share of the wholesale market.
· The time has come for BT to be forced to sell off Openreach to encourage more competition and a better service for every internet user and for the benefit of the UK economy.
The report found that out of 650 constituencies (1 being the best, 650 the worst) Cannock Chase was ranked
· 228th for superfast Broadband availability
· 477th for ultrafast availability
· 438th for average download speed
· 456th highest % of connections under 2Mb/s
· 222nd highest % of connections under 10 Mb/s
· 436th highest % of connections over 30 Mb/s.
Amanda Milling Added: "The figures contained in the report do not make good reading for BT and they show that in some key areas, such as ultrafast broadband availability, average download speed and highest percentage of connections over 30 Mb/s - Cannock Chase residents are being let down badly. Given all the delays and missed deadlines, I believe that only a formal separation of BT from Openreach, combined with fresh competition and a concerted ambition to deliver, will now create the broadband service that my constituents and businesses so rightly deserve."