People in the countryside with no access to the internet have reacted with 'shock and disappointment' to Government plans to delay the roll out of universal broadband.

Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, said the target to make sure every home has broadband speeds of 2 megabits per second (mbps) by 2012 was unrealistic in the teeth of a recession.

He said the target will have to be pushed back to the end of the current Parliament in 2015.

Countryside groups said this will leave millions of people unable to access basic services on the internet and drive businesses and young people from rural areas.

At the moment more than 2 million people are unable to get broadband speeds of 2mbps, which means it is impossible to access television on demand like the BBC's iPlayer or video streaming.

There are also internet "not spots" where 160,000 rural and remote households have no broadband at all and have to rely on dial-up.

The Prince of Wales has warned that "broadband deserts" in the countryside risk being left behind in the age of the internet.

William Worsley, President of the Country Land and Business Association, said rural people are "shocked and disappointed" by the delay.

“This setback comes at a time when rural Britain is desperately in need of effective and affordable broadband. It will seriously compromise the ability of the rural economy to succeed in the future," he said.

telegraph.co.uk/