The Access to Broadband Campaign (ABC) is holding a one-day conference next month to address the issue of bringing affordable broadband to rural areas.

Speakers from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Radio Communications Agency and the Broadband Stakeholder Group will join local campaigners and industry representatives to thrash out ways in which broadband can be delivered to around a quarter of the UK population currently not served by cable or DSL technology.

The conference, to be held on July 9 at City Point in London, will look at how to bridge the "digital divide", separating those with access to broadband from those without.

Said ABC co-founder Erol Ziya: "Moving the broadband agenda forward is vital to the industry, the development of our rural areas and regions and consequently our competitiveness as a nation.

"This conference is an important step in the right direction towards achieving Broadband Britain," he said.

Last month a report by the Countryside Agency warned that lack of broadband in rural areas is creating a digital divide between town and country.

It warned that restricted access to broadband is putting rural businesses and residents at a disadvantage. ®

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