Tories propose plan to favour cities in national next-generation broadband roll-out

A Conservative MP has said the party will favour the roll-out of next-generation broadband in the UK's major cities if they win the next general election, reports the Guardian.

Speaking at the London School of Economics, Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative shadow culture secretary, said a Tory government would work to establish next-generation networks in urban centres, which would then enable internet service providers (ISPs) to expand their coverage to rural areas once premium services were successful.

Under this proposal, people and businesses based in rural communities would have to wait longer before having access to better services and potentially more efficient VoIP hardware.

Mr Hunt justified the idea by saying it makes more sense to stimulate economic recovery in Britain's major cities as a central priority.

The current Labour government plans to introduce a £6-a-year telephone line tax for every UK home with a phone line in order to raise money to fund a next-generation roll-out in both urban and rural areas, but the Conservatives oppose this tax.

Virgin Media and BT are two of the major ISPs investing heavily in the development of next-generation broadband services.