Brown reiterates commitment to broadband for all

Prime Minister throws his weight behind super-fast broadband

Brown: Super-fast broadband is essential to boosting innovation

Following Mandelson's consultation on how the Next Generation Fund should be spent, prime minister Gordon Brown has thrown his weight behind the Digital Britain programme and pledged to release publicly held data sets that are valuable to the private sector.

He has also made it clear that he believes developing "super-fast broadband" will help rejuvenate the British economy.

He said investing in a digital revolution now could increase internet speeds to households and businesses by up to 50 times those presently available, in particular it could boost home teleworking offering "huge benefits" to business, individual employees and the environment.

Brown spoke out in an article in the Daily Telegraph just a day after business secretary Peter Mandelson launched his consultation on how best to spend the £1bn Next Generation Fund raised by the 50p phone levy - which the government is determined to include in budget legislation in the coming spring [before the general election].

Brown said there was a role for "targeted, strategic action" by government to ensure the benefit of superfast broadband extends beyond the 60 per cent likely to be supplied by the private sector.

He said: "We must complement and assist broadband providers to move farther and faster; to bring super-fast connections to households and businesses to every corner of the country. That is why we have set out plans for £1bn of extra investment to ensure that all regions of Britain - including those with sparse populations - are covered by 2017.”

"We are doing this, even in a recession, because the fastest and most modern broadband network will create and expand thousands of companies and [lead to] thousands of new jobs. A comprehensive digital infrastructure is one of the cornerstones of the UK’s future growth and prosperity."

The prime minister added: "Government will help to unleash the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit at which Britain excels, by releasing thousands of publicly held data sets, as a result of the vision of Sir Tim Berners-Lee."