Closing The Digital Divide

I'm delighted to be able to post a few words on this website in its early days. There's no doubt that people in Heversham and Leasgill will be better informed and more in touch with each other as a result of setting up this site.

One of the key issues for all of us in South Cumbria in coming years is going to be the extent to which we take up - or are able to take up - all the immense and exciting possibilities of the Internet.

Just seven years ago, there were 50 sites on the worldwide web. Today there are 50 million. Most people who have logged onto this site, will have done so over an ordinary phone line. When the World Wide Web is being heavily used, people trying to access sites on ordinary phone lines usually experience the "World Wide Wait."

Telecommunications companies are beginning to provide high-speed Internet access to homes and small businesses that is 10 to 100 times faster than today's Internet -- using technologies such as cable modems, Digital Subscriber Line (a technology that uses existing phone lines), wireless, satellite, and fiber optics. At higher speeds, the Internet can rapidly transmit a digitized X-ray, allow a student to tour a museum located halfway around the world, or enable someone with a disability to work from home.

But as access to the Internet becomes faster and faster for people in big cities, is there a risk that those living in villages like Heversham and Leasgill could be left ever further behind?

In the 19th and 20th century, railroads, electricity, bridges and roads were critical to economic development and job creation. Today, high-speed Internet access is increasingly becoming a key element to a rural area's growing economy. Rural businesses need broadband Internet access to allow their employees to upgrade skills using distance learning; communicate electronically with their customers and suppliers -- cutting costs, increasing productivity, and reducing inventories; and participate in the rapidly growing "business-to-business" electronic marketplace, which some experts think could grow to a staggering £5 trillion by the year 2004.

Without affordable broadband Internet access, existing businesses in south Cumbria will be denied the opportunity to participate in the digital economy. South Cumbria will also find it more difficult to attract new businesses, since the availability of broadband access will become an increasingly important factor in site selection.

Worryingly, rural areas are lagging behind urban areas in the availability of broadband. Only last year, roads in Kendal were dug up for a new broadband cable to be laid from Scotland to Manchester with no local access to the new technology here in south Cumbria. This is a clear example of the information superhighway bypassing south Cumbria. There is a real danger that rural areas like ours could find themselves on the wrong side of a digital divide.

Together with local businesses and councillors of all parties, I'm determined to work to make sure that South Lakeland does not fall behind in the digital race.

If anyone reading this article has any constructive suggestions for the working party being set up to brainstorm ideas on this locally, do send me an Email at listening@timcollins.co.uk

TIM COLLINS MP

www: Tim Collins Website
email: listening@timcollins.co.uk