We wrote to the Broadband Stakeholder Group responding to their Green Paper on their predictions for the future broadband requirements for homes and businesses.

The Green Paper raises the prospect of another urban/rural digital divide opening, with potentially serious problems for rural economies and communities.

Our report 'Beyond Digital Divides: The Future of ICT in Rural Areas', published last year, showed that while access to broadband services in rural areas was improving, vigilance was still needed to ensure a divide does not open again as future generations of faster broadband are developed.

The report found that some differences in broadband services for urban and rural areas are starting to emerge. Already some urban areas have access to much greater bandwidth (up to 8 Megabits per second), compared with basic broadband (up to 512 Kilobits per second) in rural areas.

Access to faster broadband services can bring great opportunities for rural people, where technology removes problems of distance and isolation, and helps rural businesses be more competitive.

The importance of access to ICT in rural areas was highlighted in our recently published report 'Rural Disadvantage: Priorities for action'. The study sets out the main findings from our evidence review of rural disadvantage and highlights priorities for action for policy makers.