Shetland Islands Council leader Gary Robinson has welcomed Prime Minister David Cameron’s announcement of a universal service obligation (USO) for broadband across the UK.
This commitment should ensure that 100 per cent of homes and businesses in the UK will be able to access broadband with speeds of at least 10Mbps by 2020.
Councillor Robinson said: “The Government’s commitment to achieve 100 per cent broadband coverage in the UK by 2020 is very welcome. At 10Mbps it falls some way short of what can properly be defined as high speed broadband but it should be fast enough to allow our remotest island homes to stream live video and for isolated businesses to function as they’ve never been able to in the past.”
He added: “This latest announcement further vindicates the work of the Our Islands Our Future campaign. A universal service obligation was something that we lobbied the government for so we’re delighted to have won this commitment. While it’s very welcome, our work will continue in order to ensure that everyone can access true super-fast broadband of at least 30Mbps as defined by Ofcom and the European Commission.”