e-envoy lays blame for the broadband bottleneck

NEWS e-envoy Andrew Pinder blamed the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown for the lack of broadband access in the UK. Speaking at the CBI conference yesterday he said smaller companies must start using faster internet access to prove to the Chancellor how useful it is. Pinder conceded that progress had been slow and government intervention may be needed to accelerate it. Senior government figures needed to be convinced that there is a market for broadband. Pinder claimed Brown was concerned that even in areas where it is available few small companies are using the technology. Pinder said: "We need you and your supply companies to get online and use broadband ...to convince people it really is needed."