Jeremy Hunt urges against fibre broadband delays

The UK must learn from past mistakes and roll out fibre optic broadband as soon as possible, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has insisted.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society's Cambridge Convention, Mr Hunt pointed out that other parts of the world are doing "much better than us", with Singapore planning to deploy universal 1Gbps broadband.

It is important Britain does not get left behind other nations in terms of the country's fibre broadband infrastructure, he stated.

Mr Hunt said: "We need to ensure we do not make the same mistake in broadband that we made in railways - building our high-speed network 45 years after the French and 62 years after the Japanese."

Average speeds in the UK currently stand at 7.5Mbps, but consumer bandwidth is increasing by 60 per cent each year, the politician added.

His speech came in the wake of the government's announcement that £363 million has been allocated to councils across England and Scotland in a bid to bring broadband access to all homes and businesses.