A dozen rural community groups have banded together to get the Government to roll out broadband to the countryside.

The Final Third First group highlights the fact that a substantial number of the population living in rural areas only have access to 28.8 or 56Kbits/sec dial-up connections.

The fact that such low speeds exist mean that the Government's commitment to provide 2Mbits/sec speeds as a universal standard will be “hard to achieve”, said the group, which is supported by the Country Land & Business Association (CLA).

The CLA's Dr Charles Trotman estimates the number of people without broadband speeds at between 18% to 20% of the UK population, with rural users placed at a disadvantage because they are deemed to be too far away from the exchange.

“I don’t think the Government has dismissed rural communities, I just think they don’t understand rural issues,” added Dr Trotman. “2Mbits/sec is only a start... a basic level [and] the Government has to put the money in”.

The main focus of the campaign will be to ensure that Government services can be accessed by everyone by 2012, before any attempt is made to bring next-gen services to the final third.

He added that firms such as BT, who are responsible for laying down the required digital infrastructure, were also to blame. “It’s a joint Government/industry problem. We recognise BT has to answer to its shareholders, but it does have a moral responsibility to bring fairness to the market.”.