When you read the papers these days it is hard to avoid some story or another about telecoms.  It might be about a company take-over or yet another Government scheme to bring broadband to hard-to-reach rural communities.  There are stories about 5G which must one supposes, be superior to 3G or 4G.  However, if you are without even 3G you are left to wonder whether you will ever be part of this brave, new world.

Impatience grew.  More and more people wrote to their MP to register a protest.  By the time I retired from the House of Commons this topic had overtaken most others in the number of letters and emails it generated.  At about the same time sales representatives of Gigaclear were knocking on doors in my village community urging us to sign up for broadband that they could provide “next year”.  This proved not to be 2016 or 2017, but more in the region of 2020/21.  A group of active local residents did their best to hold Gigaclear to account, but promises failed as did the further promises that replaced them.

The situation was changed by the appearance on the scene of Openreach.  This occurred in 2020 and their commitment to build a fibre network by July 2021 was fulfilled.  Whilst connectivity is amazing and full of potential there is now a concern that more people will prefer to work from home.  But I say that humans are gregarious animals with a strong tendency to socialise.  After all, without people meeting and campaigning, our area would probably still be without broadband.