• The Guardian, Monday, August 15, 2011 11:12 AM

Britain is allocating about $864 million to turn many of the nation's "not spots" into high-speed "hot spots." As a result, "Cornish fishing villages, Welsh valleys and Cumbrian farmsteads will all have access to high-speed internet within four years if telecoms companies add their money to the state pot and consumers show interest," the Guardian writes. Diverted from the BBC to create a digital Britain, the money is expected to be shared among 40 areas, including English councils, Scotland and Northern Ireland. A additional $489 million has been promised after 2015.

The government apparently wants all 25 million UK homes to have access to a minimum speed of 2 megabits per second, which would mean that reading Web pages, making Skype phone calls or watching TV catch-up services will all be possible from the most remote cottage. If all goes to plan, according to the Guardian 90%, of homes will be able to get even faster speeds of over 24Mbps -- enough for several computers to download video simultaneously on a single line. The BT Group has already promised to spend its own money getting superfast, fiber-optic broadband to two thirds of households by 2015, without government help.

Read the whole story at The Guardian »