Government-Sponsored Broadband Coming to 12 Smaller British Cities

The UK is working on expanding the reach of broadband throughout the country. It started out with some big plans, but dialed them down a bit when reality sunk in. Still, the government plans to spend quite a lot to ensure that parts of the country don't get stuck with slow and expensive connections.

The latest move is expanding the plan to a number of smaller cities. Chancellor George Osborne has announced the names of the cities that will benefit from the fiber-optic connections, sponsored by the government.

They are: Brighton and Hove, Cambridge, Coventry, Derby, Oxford, Portsmouth, Salford, York, Newport, Aberdeen, Perth and Londonderry.

The government initially promised to make the UK the country with the fastest broadband in the EU by 2015.

Considering just how far ahead the Scandinavian countries and even some Eastern European countries are, it quickly became clear that it was an unattainable goal.

The government changed its tune to the more vague "best" broadband in the EU, whatever that means.

These 12 smaller cities will split £50 million, $80 million or €61 million, between them. Ten larger cities had been chosen earlier, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Newcastle.