Mike Ashton
@co.uk
| Broadbanding Rural Britain - our lessons.... It’s interesting to see you quoting our effort to get broadband to rural communities here in the UK, and from what you say, there are a lot of similarities. If you can pick up a few pointers from our years of campaigning, that has to be a good thing all round.
We really had to put pressure on the ISPs and in our case BT, who basically have the monopoly on the telephone lines and the ADSL technology. To increase the pressure we also had to bring in the politicians, who could identify with issues like minority disadvantage, barriers to enterprise and disgruntled voters.
I can’t stress too much the importance of getting evidence of thi sminority disadvantage, some hard luck stories and stifling of enterprise then using that to lobby the politicians. What hits home with the media – who are an essential part of any campaign – is the problems caused to real people, in their circulation area.
If you can get a business orgainisation to represent all interested parties and co-ordinate the action so much the better. The CLA (Country Land and Business Association) got everyone round a table right from the start and basically coordinated the whole thing from an apolitical stance.
Our campaign was successful in that it increased rollout of broadband to rural areas, and probably made more difference than anything else, but as we’ve learned the hard way you MUST keep the pressure on and don't stop until you've hit home base. |
