UK gov scraps broadband pooling

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A government initiative to save £200 million (E303 million) on the UK's broadband bill using regional aggregation bodies to pool public sector buying power has led to savings of just £3.5m to date.

After spending an initial £15 million on setting up the scheme the Department of Trade and Industry is to stop the funding and close the national aggregation board. The future of the regional aggregation bodies - known as adits - will now be left in the hands of each of the Regional Development Agencies.

The aim was to pool public sector demand for broadband to get bigger discounts with the knock-on effect that broadband infrastructure could be brought to areas of the country where it is not currently economically viable for suppliers. This would also increase availability to private sector businesses and consumers.