Gov must put superfast broadband along HS2 rail line, says Parliament

The government must do more to ensure high speed broadband arrives alongside the controversial £80bn High Speed Rail line, a Parliamentary select committee has warned.

The HS2 project, which promises to increase rail capacity between London and the West Midlands, is also intended to deliver broadband benefits into more areas by laying fibre optic cables along the railway's route between London and Birmingham.

However, in its final report on the project before the bill passes to the House of Lords, the HS2 Select Committee warned that the government has so far only made “passive provision” for the installation of broadband infrastructure on the route (pdf) and no "actual installation such as ducting and cabling”.

It said:

The government is wrong to believe that the test for providing broadband and mobile access is whether the telecommunications industry can be offered a commercially viable market in such localities.

If commercial propositions are not speedily forthcoming the government should fund the provision. We do not direct whence the cabling comes; industry operators and government can make a commercial assessment of that. We direct that, one way or another, the provision of a modern railway is to be associated with achieving modern high-speed communication along its route.

It said the Department of Culture, Media and Sport should establish which areas within 3km of the HS2 route are unlikely to have superfast broadband provision and good 4G mobile telephone coverage by 2018 - the year after the anticipated start of construction.

"Few if any of those living close to the route will benefit directly from the HS2 project,” the report's authors said.

Tony Meggs, chief executive of the newly named Infrastructure and Projects Authority - which monitors a number of high-risk government projects - recently named HS2 as one of the top three big programmes keeping him up at night. ®