UK government launches a £400m broadband fund

POLICY

This summer, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced a £400m investment in the new Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund that aims to supporting fibre broadband providers’ expansion plans. The government is looking towards private investors to come up with a similar amount, to reach a total of £1bn.

The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP

CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

“We are investing £400 million to make sure the UK’s digital infrastructure is match-fit for the future”, said Andrew Jones MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. “As technologies change and people’s habits move with them, it is crucial we play our part to ensure Britain stays at the front of the pack. (…) Full fibre will provide us with the better broadband we need to ensure we can work flexibly and productively, without connections failing.”

The government will also provide funding to local areas to help develop a larger fibre backbone across the UK. The latest Broadband Performance Indicator showed that 4,309,668 premises had a superfast broadband service by the end of December 2016. The Government claims this is a result of projects supported by the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) program. However, at present, ‘full fibre’ is available to only about one million premises in the UK, representing some 2% penetration. A stark contrast with Spain, for example, where 80% of premises have full fibre access. The European Commission annual European Digital Progress Report, confirms that Ireland, the UK, Belgium and Greece all lag behind the rest of the 28 EU member countries in the area of ultrafast ‘full fibre’ broadband coverage.

On the other hand: the UK reached 90% ‘superfast’ broadband coverage last year, according to telecoms regulator Ofcom. This is up from 83% in 2015, with take-up hitting 31%, up from 27% the previous year.

Until recently, the government’s focus was on providing this ‘super-fast’ broadband of 24Mbps or higher. Now, however, the goal is to increase the number of fibre-to-the-property broadband connections, offering speeds of up to 1Gbps, over the next four years.

“We are investing £400 million to make sure the UK’s digital infrastructure is match-fit for the future”, said Andrew Jones MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. “As technologies change and people’s habits move with them, it is crucial we play our part to ensure Britain stays at the front of the pack. (…) Full fibre will provide us with the better broadband we need to ensure we can work flexibly and productively, without connections failing.”

The government will also provide funding to local areas to help develop a larger fibre backbone across the UK. The latest Broadband Performance Indicator showed that 4,309,668 premises had a superfast broadband service by the end of December 2016. The Government claims this is a result of projects supported by the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) program. However, at present, ‘full fibre’ is available to only about one million premises in the UK, representing some 2% penetration. A stark contrast with Spain, for example, where 80% of premises have full fibre access. The European Commission annual European Digital Progress Report, confirms that Ireland, the UK, Belgium and Greece all lag behind the rest of the 28 EU member countries in the area of ultrafast ‘full fibre’ broadband coverage.

On the other hand: the UK reached 90% ‘superfast’ broadband coverage last year, according to telecoms regulator Ofcom. This is up from 83% in 2015, with take-up hitting 31%, up from 27% the previous year.

Until recently, the government’s focus was on providing this ‘super-fast’ broadband of 24Mbps or higher. Now, however, the goal is to increase the number of fibre-to-the-property broadband connections, offering speeds of up to 1Gbps, over the next four years.