[SatNews] Bentley Walker has announced there is new funding for broadband in England and Scotland.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has announced details of their Broadband Delivery Programme for the U.K. The aim is to improve Internet access to all areas by working with the private sector. Subsidies will be provided to reduce the costs of installing broadband services. The investment allocation for broadband into rural areas has been set at 530 million pounds. The funding is specifically for areas where commercial investments are currently failing to meet demand.

English counties have now been allocated 294.8 million pounds and Scotland the remaining 68.8 million pounds. The Welsh Assembly have already created their own programme for Wales. The investment is to ensure that the U.K. has the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015, with 90 percent of all homes and businesses having access to at least 20Mbps and all the U.K. having 2Mpbs. This scheme is only available to homes and business with a current maximum speed of less than 512kbps.  In some areas, the subsidies will still fall a long way short of the cost of laying broadband fibre optic cables so alternative solutions are being sought, one of which is satellite Internet. The Broadband Delivery Programme is also in talks with the Department of Health and the Department of Education. Broadband access is no longer just a luxury, it is fast becoming a necessity and the only way to access vital health information and educational resources. Bentley Walker already provides a fast satellite Internet service to all areas of the U.K. The new government initiative may provide funding for Tooway installations. Tooway currently provides speeds from 6 Mpbs.