According to a new report from the Policy Exchange, The UK government should discontinue subsidies for broadband infrastructure once current commitments are reached in 2015.
The report, entitled ‘The Superfast and the Furious,’ argues that politicians have become too focused on broadband speeds.
The report recommends that the government should focus on helping small businesses and the 10.8 million people, who are not connected online, across the country.
In a survey of 2,000 people and 500 businesses conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of Policy Exchange, it was found that 64% said good basic broadband coverage for the whole country is more important than chasing very fast speeds in some areas at the expense of others.
Chris Yiu, author of the report said: "Successive governments have been right to invest public money in basic broadband connectivity. The government’s current spending plans will extend fast broadband to the vast majority of people."
"Any further public money should be spent on making sure we are putting this to good use. It’s far from clear that your taxes should help to pay for me to have an even faster connection," he added.
"There is no doubt that broadband, both fixed and wireless, makes a major contribution to the economy. But the right person to decide how much speed your family or business needs is you – not the government."
Recently, new research by Incentivated found that UK companies are struggling to keep pace with mobile internet adoption.
