Awwal 30, 1432 H/March 5, 2011, SPA -- The British government is beginning an ambitious program to wire the country with broadband Internet, according to UPI. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced Friday local governments will get $80 million for the first phase, The Daily Telegraph reports. Speaking at a Hewlett Packard facility in Bristol, Osborne said, "Broadband is crucial for the country's economic future; that's why the coalition government is investing over half a billion pounds in its infrastructure. We want to have the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015, and today's 50 million pounds will benefit up to 800,000 homes and businesses." The government plans to spend $860 million over four years to connect areas where it is not profitable for the market to provide high-speed Internet. An additional $490 million will come from the TV license fee for work after 2015. The fiber upgrades will enable connection speeds of up to 100 megabits per second and services such as movie downloads and television streaming for 85 percent to 90 percent of the country. Britain is lagging behind the rest of the Europe, with only 0.2 percent of the country currently on rapid fixed broadband networks.
