UK government reveals plan to build “digital hub” by 2015

The UK government has drawn up plans to lay out a super-fast broadband, which according to culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, is needed to create jobs.

"The reason we want to do this is very simple -- it's about jobs," says culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Speaking to the Today Programme, he said the government had a key role in "catalysing investment by the private sector" in broadband citing the example of South Korea which has high speed broadband throughout the nation and which was 90 per cent  paid for by private firms.

The government has made provisions of £830 million for the scheme, of which some of  money will come from funds given to the BBC to pay for the switch to digital TV.

According to Hunt, the strategy would be to build for UK, the best broadband network in Europe by 2015 that is projected to emerge as  central to economic growth and the delivery of future public services.

Responding to a question as to why the government had abandoned the plans of the former administration that promised 2 Mb per second broadband for all by 2012, he said it was silly to hang your hat on a speed like that when the game was changing the whole time.