Tuesday, 8 March 2011

Infrastructure comparisons – revisited

OK, hand on heart, I really did plan to do a piece on the recently announced investment plans for the 'High Speed Two' rail network between London and Birmingham.  Given the paucity of government funding for ‘Digital Britain’, the idea of spending more than £30bn on a rail enhancement is difficult to comprehend.  Sadly, however, Chris Marsden spotted the same incongruity and he got there first.

Chris offered a straightforward comparison between the level of government investment in the rail and broadband projects, calculating a 10,000% difference.  Perhaps a more telling statistic is that, according to the 2008 Analysys Mason report for the Broadband Stakeholder Group, providing point-to-point fibre for every household in the UK (the most expensive broadband option) would cost less than £29bn.  Better value, surely…? 

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