The Chancellor pledged the funds to support rollout in the hardest to reach 20% of the UK.
Background: On the day he took office as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson reiterated an ambitious connectivity target for the UK, to achieve full-fibre coverage of the country by 2025. This would be much earlier than the objectives set by previous governments, and as set out in the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review of 2018. The FTIR targeted 15m premises to be connected to full fibre by 2025, and nationwide coverage by 2033.
Five billion for the hardest to reach areas: At the annual conference of the Conservative Party, the Chancellor Sajid Javid announced a set of measures to boost the UK economy. One of them relates to connectivity, and provides for £5bn funds to support the rollout of ‘gigabit-capable’ broadband. This is intended to help deployment in the hardest to reach areas, i.e. rural areas where there is little market incentive to lay fibre, which is estimated to make up for about 20% of the country.
An unrealistic target, yet one that could stay: When Johnson announced the full-fibre ambition for the first time, industry met the statement with raised eyebrows. While operators recognised the ambitiousness of the target, and its importance to boost the UK economy, some of them warned that the cost to deliver such a plan would be in the region of £30bn, and it will carry risk because operators could not rollout gradually and get a return on their investment in the meantime, due to the tight deadline. Nonetheless, the objective is now out there, and it could be difficult for future governments to back down on a promise which sounds so good and will underpin the country’s economic growth in the coming years.
