In a major announcement Labour have set out plans to deliver free full fibre broadband for all by bringing parts of BT into public ownership and creating a new British Broadband public service.
According to research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a full-fibre broadband network could boost productivity by £59 billion by 2025; bring half a million people back into the workforce; and boost rural economies, with an estimated 270,000 people more able to move to rural areas.
The Labour party announced the policy, describing the new free public service as central to the parties plans to transform our country and economy.
Stephen Morgan said:
“Bringing Portsmouth together and making a more inclusive society, that is our objective.
Portsmouth has a thriving community of independent bussiensses’, it is the responsibility of Government to support them in their success, key to this is strong digital infrastructure for businesses and industry.If we are to be at forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a global economic player, we must speed up the adoption of technologies across our economy.”
The next Labour government will undertake a massive upgrade in the UK’s internet infrastructure, delivering fast, secure, reliable internet connections for everyone and putting an end to patchy and slow coverage. This will boost 5G connectivity across the country.
The plan will be paid for through Labour’s Green Transformation fund and taxing multinational corporations such as Amazon, Facebook and Google, and save the average person £30.30 a month.
Only between 8-10 per cent of premises in the UK are connected to full-fibre broadband, compared to 97 per cent in Japan and 98 per cent in South Korea. Almost 80% of adults surveyed said that they have experienced internet reliability problems in the last year.
Stephen said:
“I welcome proposals to deliver free full-fibre broadband – saving money for people in Portsmouth and local businesses. This will be a massive boost to our economy and a massive upgrade to our city’s infrastructure”
