The UK government has made an eagerly awaited commitment to ensuring hard to reach rural communities will have broadband access by 2015. Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt announced today that he would ensure 90 per cent of rural communities with slow internet speeds would have their service improved within the next four years. The government has allocated £362 million to extend broadband access to more remote parts of England, Wales and Scotland.

In an effort to bring broadband internet access to people not covered by the private sector, English counties will receive £294 million and Scotland £68.8 million. The money comes from the £530 million "digital Britain" fund promised by the chancellor, George Osborne, earlier in the year.

Hunt said he was "absolutely determined that the UK will have the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015." He elaborated on the need for better connections for rural areas, "Fast broadband is absolutely vital to our economic growth, to delivering public services effectively, and to conducting our everyday lives, but some areas of the UK are missing out, with many rural and hard-to-reach communities suffering painfully slow internet connections or no coverage at all. We are not prepared to let some parts of our country get left behind in the digital age."

The broadband will be rolled out by local councils in England; the Scottish government has yet to determine how the money will be allocated in the country. Funding allocation announcements have already been made for Wales and Northern Ireland, which will receive £56.9 million and £4.4 million respectively.

Information on how the funding will be broken down by county is available here.