News / Broadband tariffs
SHETLAND’S parliamentarians are unhappy with communications regulator Ofcom’s response on reducing broadband rates for users who suffer slower download speeds than their mainland counterparts.
MP Alistair Carmichael and MSP Tavish Scott wrote to Ofcom Scotland saying a lower tariff would encourage the industry to raise rural broadband speeds in remote areas.
Ofcom said they had no plans to look into the issue, but stressed they had cut the wholesale price BT can charge for providing the internet.
Carmichael said the move was welcome, but more needed to be done.
“A 12 per cent cut in wholesale internet prices will not cut much ice with those people in the isles who are only able to access 10 per cent or less of the speeds that providers are advertising locally,” he said.
“Suggesting that the price of an internet service should reflect the quality of connection speed is hardly a revolutionary step.
“Ofcom need to look again at how companies charge their customers and ensure that people in Orkney and Shetland are getting a fair deal.”
The issue came up at a recent meeting of the North Isles Digital Forum that Scott chaired in Lerwick.
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