Should more be done to increase internet connection speeds locally?

Roughly half a year ago I wrote about the possibility of there being a 50 pence tax to help provide broadband services to every household in Britain (read the original article here). However, earlier this month the government was forced to cut the tax from its budget because there was not enough time to put thorough the legislation before parliament is dissolved on the 6th of May.

Thornbury and its outlying villages generally have fast connection speeds (I know I do), but a number of local areas do not. Quoting from the South West Regional Development Agency, Steve Webb MP says that 22% of premises cannot connect at the currently proposed 'minimum speed' for the country - causing problems for local businesses and residents. To help combat this Mr Webb has said he will try to highlight the problem to major broadband providers, but how necessary do you think this is?

The debate over whether the 50p tax is worthwhile is now redundant, but one can still ask how important this issue is to local people. I've tried to find out what our other potential parliamentary candidates might think about it, but came up with no information (if you do then please share it with us here). To me this suggests that local people are happy with their internet service, or they do not see it as one of the essential issues our MP should be concerned with.

You can read the original story on Steve Webb's webpage at http://www.stevewebb.org.uk/