Treat the internet like all other utilities if rural areas to prosper and stay safe – The Yorkshire Post says

THE fragility of remote living was exposed by the recent Storm Arwen when rural householders were left without power, internet connectivity or mobile phone signal following inhospitable blizzards.
By YP Comment
Published 31st Dec 2021, 11:11 BST
Broadband provision now needs the same status as other essential utilities, it is argued in the aftermath of Storm Arwen and the advent of home working during the Covid pandemic.Broadband provision now needs the same status as other essential utilities, it is argued in the aftermath of Storm Arwen and the advent of home working during the Covid pandemic.
Broadband provision now needs the same status as other essential utilities, it is argued in the aftermath of Storm Arwen and the advent of home working during the Covid pandemic.

The difficulties that Castleford-based Northern Powergrid, and utility companies, encountered when they and the Army tried to reconnect supplies also came as a shock in affected areas to all those who have embraced ‘home working’ as a new way of life as a result of the Covid pandemic.

Storm Arwen victims deserve better than this as 30,000 homes still without power – The Yorkshire Post says

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If anything, the disruption served as a reminder that internet connection now needed to be treated by the Government as a public utility as vital as electricity or running water after recent research by the Bright Blue think-tank found that 13 per cent of home workers reported being frequently plagued by unreliable broadband, with consequent knock-on effects for productivity and also their careers.

Broadband provision now needs the same status as other essential utilities, it is argued in the aftermath of Storm Arwen and the advent of home working during the Covid pandemic.Broadband provision now needs the same status as other essential utilities, it is argued in the aftermath of Storm Arwen and the advent of home working during the Covid pandemic.
Broadband provision now needs the same status as other essential utilities, it is argued in the aftermath of Storm Arwen and the advent of home working during the Covid pandemic.

But this also goes to the heart of concerns, set out in The Yorkshire Post today, over work by BT Openreach to replace copper-based telephone landlines with home internet connections. And while the expectation is that this work will lead to an enhanced service, Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s constituents in North Yorkshire are among those to harbour serious concerns that Britain’s broadband capabilities are not sufficiently robust and will, potentially, put the elderly – people who regard the telephone as a daily lifeline – at risk.

Genuine concerns that do need to be taken far more seriously, it is another reason why digital connectivity needs the same political status as other essential everyday utilities.

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Related topics:Northern PowergridNorth YorkshireGovernmentCastlefordRishi Sunak

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