Chancellor unveils ultrafast broadband pledge

This year's Budget from chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne was greatly anticipated ahead of an upcoming general election.

It was therefore extremely encouraging news to hear Mr Osborne believes the delivery of improved 'ultrafast' broadband connectivity for the vast majority of the country will be a key aim of the coming years, no matter what the colour of the next government.

Enhancing the existing Broadband Delivery UK programme that runs until 2017, the chancellor outlined plans for a following project that will build upon superfast speeds of 24 Mbps for 95 per cent areas, to deliver speeds of up to 100 Mbps for the majority of consumers in the years ahead.

Making the announcement, Mr Osborne said: "Over 80 per cent of the population have access to superfast broadband and there are six million customers of 4G that our auction made possible. Today we set out a comprehensive strategy so we stay ahead."

In addition, the chancellor revealed the Universal Service Obligation will also be raised from dial-up speeds of 28 Kbps to 5 Mbps broadband for the whole of the country.