When it emerged at the beginning of the week that BT Chairman Sir Michael Rake was the only member of his small village community to have access to a high speed broadband connection, cries of preferential treatment and foul play were heard.

Residents of Hambleden in Oxfordshire were told that Sir Michael was trialling a new service that could be part of the various BT broadband deals in the future and that it was not possible to provide the rest of the properties with a similar service.

One resident said that he had been waiting for broadband to arrive for 5 years, but Sir Michael had been given access to broadband after living in the village for just 12 months. The resident went on to say that BT had told him it would cost nearly £70,000 to connect his own home up to a high speed broadband connection.

This incident is indicative of the wider problems facing those living in isolated communities. The current ADSL technology cannot supply homes that are a long way from their local telephone exchanges and installing fibre optic broadband requires a significant level of investment, which most believe is not met by the demand for broadband in rural areas.

Millions of UK homes are in the same position, although government funding and the broadband tax could help alleviate the situation in the coming years. However, universal broadband availability is still a long way off and the disheartening news received by Hambleden residents was met with a similar sense of helplessness by rural residents around the UK.

BT customers living in urban areas have less to be glum about. The next generation of Broadband Enabling Technology (BET) which Sir Michael is apparently trialling will be set to benefit town and city dwellers first and upcoming BT broadband deals should soon allow far more people to connect at high speeds in these areas.

Since it is already widely known that around £1 in every £7 spent in the UK goes into the tills at Tesco, it is no surprise that the retail giant is looking at winning a share of the home broadband market. Tesco has had success as the provider of mobile telephone services for several years now and recently expanded its portfolio of products with the addition of mobile broadband, but it is clear that there is more to come.

Having opened the doors to mobile broadband customers a year ago it has offered many competitive deals and began giving away free laptops with its longer contracts in mid 2009. Now Tesco will be adding its name and branding to home broadband in what could be an extremely lucrative step for the company if it is handled correctly.

As with its mobile phone and mobile broadband services, Tesco will be piggybacking on the networks and infrastructure of another firm in order to offer home broadband to customers. In this instance it is Cable and Wireless who will supply the service, putting Tesco in direct competition with the many BT broadband deals that are currently available.

Tesco is allegedly hoping to take advantage of the market sentiment highlighted in recent surveys in which significant customer grievances appear to be associated with many of the mainstream home broadband providers. With many customers looking to switch from their existing providers to greener pastures, there is a real chance for Tesco to tap into a disgruntled market that seems to be in need of a change as well as a good deal or two on home broadband.

The addition of Tesco home broadband to the marketplace can only be a good thing. The price of BT broadband deals should fall across the board if Tesco adopts its usual aggressive pricing strategies.

Jeremy Hunt, shadow secretary for the Conservative party, caused a stir when speaking at the London School of Economics earlier in the week. The senior Tory politician revealed that a Conservative government would focus public investment in providing cheap cable broadband and faster ADSL connections to the major cities of the UK.

The news was greeted with understandable frustration by those living in rural areas where broadband coverage is poor and broadband speeds are a fraction of those available to people living in densely populated areas.

Commentators have recognised that the strategy could be aimed at winning votes amongst those living and working in cities where broadband is seen as integral to economic growth.

It is possible that this strategy, which deviates from current government plans looking for dual investment from taxpayers’ money and the telecoms industry, could eventually work in favour of those living in rural areas. The Conservatives would charge those adopting the high speed connection in the cities a higher monthly rate in order to, later, allow for increased investment in better broadband speeds and coverage around the UK.

It is likely that such a plan would be greeted with significant support from businesses, allowing them to implement home working schemes for staff during adverse weather or pandemics such as the ongoing Swine Flu outbreak.

For residential customers living in urban areas, the impact could be less desirable. With the new faster connections costing more, an imbalance of broadband speeds could be driven by income, with the universal availability of cheap cable broadband a distant dream.

Although the Conservative plans for the future of broadband in the UK are of interest to many, speculation and the discussion of specific plans are seen to be pointless at this time. It is only after next year’s general election that the any new policies will be implemented.

A report from Cisco has said that broadband quality and reach in the UK ranks just 25^th in a worldwide league table.

This may sound like bad news, especially when considering some of the less developed countered higher up the table. However, Cisco has made it clear that the UK?s broadband network is adequate for today?s requirements but, more importantly, that its position is likely to improve.

Broadly speaking we agree with this assessment. The increase in fibre networks and the Digital Britain project will vastly improve provision of broadband in the UK such that it will be able to keep pace with the ever increasing requirements of the broadband users in the UK.