In his first speech as Competitiveness minister (sounds like a good job doesn’t it?) Stephen Timms has said that the UK needs to look at our current levels of broadband provision and make plans for the future to ensure that we don’t get left behind by other countries who are investing heavily in their telecommunications infrastructure to provide super fast broadband.

Timms previous post was as the e-commerce minister and he was key in pushing the UK’s broadband provision, indeed if you think of the speeds we were used to 5 years ago when dial up was still prevalent he certainly did a good job there! In a speech to the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), he highlighted the issues facing the UK  when he said “other countries are starting to invest in new, fibre based infrastructure, delivering considerably higher bandwidth than is available in the UK today”. (more…)

Virgin Mediacontinue to upgrade their cable broadband service to the target speed of 50MB with beta tests being carried out on lucky customers areas including Dover, Ashford and Folkestone. Public trials are reported to begin next month in selected areas of Kent with fees expected to be in the region of £47 a month for 50Meg broadband. This may prove prohibitive for many home users but individuals and businesses that have a need to upload and download large amounts of data will be licking their lips in anticipation! (more…)