Green fields,digital divides

摘要

From checking bankrnbalances to iPlaying last night's Apprentice, many of us take fast home broadband access for granted, and rely on it for work too. But parts of the country are still starved of the service. According to a report by the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC), access to the world's largest information portal is a postcode lottery where rural areas draw the short straw.rnMind the Gap: Digital England - a rural perspective is the CRC's response to the government's Digital Britain report, which set out its commitment to provide universal broadband access at 2Mbps by 2012. While welcoming this as a first step, the CRC argues that it falls far short of what's required - and risks perpetuating a 'digital divide', in which city dwellers enjoy fast, affordable and reliable connections, with the promise of super-fast NGA ('next generation access') around the corner, while rural communities languish behind. A broadband speed of 2Mbps may sound impressive, says the CRC, but in reality it's a 'first generation' standard which will leave country users struggling to make full use of even basic internet services - let alone compete in the global market. Meanwhile, many rural areas still lack any access to broadband whatsoever.