Next generation broadband must become integral to people’s lives

Super-fast next generation broadband will be in high demand across the UK if it becomes an integral part of people’s lives, experts say.

The Parliamentary Information Technology Committee (Pitcom), pointed out that next generation broadband needs to get to the point where it’s an important part of the way people work and where “communities evolve again, in the same way that they were demanding broadband”.

Pitcom also highlighted the “dilemma” between providers, which it said is another obstacle that must be overcome in order for next generation broadband to take off in Britain.

Speaking at the Westminster eForum keynote seminar Next Generation Broadband, Nick Palmer MP, a member of Pitcom, said: “The basic infrastructure providers want to wait for the application providers and the application providers won’t build the applications until the infrastructures there.”

According to Ofcom, broadband has been one of the most important developments in communications technology in recent years, with take-up reaching 58 per cent of homes in less than eight years.