In this week's budget Darling announced support for Stephen Carter's 2Mbps 'universal' service (although it still seems that they won't guarantee 100% availability!)

Whilst this news is of course welcome, and will finally begin the work of plugging the gaps left behind by BT's inadequate ADSL deployment over the last ten years, most of us are of the view that it is far too little, and certainly far too late.

In 2012 my guess is that 2Mbps will not be up to the job, if it is today. What is needed, from Number 10, from the RDAs, and from local government, is some real vision, and the resources to back it up, that can really put the UK on the FTTH map. A modest fund that could be bid into to support the early stage development of local FTTH projects, plus the creation of a pool of patient capital that could be used to part fund the deployment costs.

Local authorities and community activists are ready to do the work, we simply don't have access to the resources needed to take things forward. City dwellers looking forward to their H2O/BT/Virgin fast broadband need to understnad that if 60% or more of us are locked out of that fast network, it impacts on them as well. If UK plc is to be a vibrant knowledge economy at the leading edge of European digital economies, then nationwide coverage of FTTH (and not the cheap second class FTTC technology being offered by BT) is essential.