When BT launched the Race to Infinity, it gave a percentage of the UK population the opportunity to fastrack their area to get superfast broadband. Nothing wrong with that.

However, there are several commentators who have taken a deeper look at this competition and are raising very valid points indeed. According to a recent article on Sam Knows website,  BT  claims its £2.5bn investment in fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) will make the 40Mbp/s service available to 15m homes by 2015.

However, it is expected that nearly all of these will be in large towns and cities but, according to BT, only 7m households are currently accounted for. That leaves, in theory, 10m homes which the telco will identify based on public feedback from the Race to Infinity!

Likewise, ZDNet is also of the view that getting superfast broadband has become a lottery, and it shouldn’t be. I think we can all identify with that point. The article author says

“..and 5 exchanges out of 5000, feels like a BT ploy to suppress communities from following their own ‘real’ fibre solution, by giving them hope by attempting to win what is effect a lottery.”

and really, when you think about the odds, its rather long isn’t it? But not impossible. The article goes on to say that, on the subject of the 50p  broadband tax (subsidy really)…

“Subsidies for Fibre to Premises maybe (but its uptake is pretty much guaranteed, so its hardly taking a gamble, in gambling terms) – even then I’d rather see subsidies to communities enabling their own solutions, at least they’d own their network- and then aren’t paying twice in terms of excessive future rental charges, for something BT didn’t pay fully to install“.

Other commentators like the Broadband Watchdog take a positive outlook, whilst others dont, and they do give us reason to pause for thought. The Caledonian Mercury is asking who’s left behind?

What do you think?

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