West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin this week welcomed news that a county-wide plan to spend taxpayers money to bring faster broadband to rural areas has been signed off by the Government. The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, today signed off the plan, which will see national Government and the county council spend millions of pounds speeding up the local broadband infrastructure. This spending commitment acknowledges the importance of the internet to the local economy and the fact that reaching every part of a rural county will not be viable using only private sector funding. More than £10 million will be spent speeding up Worcestershire’s Internet connections, with over £3 million coming from national Government and the balance from the County Council. The BDUK money is to ensure 100 per cent of homes get a speed up to 2mbps by 2015. The aspiration is to deliver superfast broadband to 90 per cent of the UK using a mix of traditional infrastructure solutions and 4G technology. Harriett said: “The county council’s broadband delivery plan has been given the go ahead and faster broadband can’t come soon enough for many homes and businesses in my constituency. “Government at national and local level has made faster internet speeds a top economic priority as the internet today is every bit as crucial a part of the nation’s infrastructure as roads and railways.”