In 2019, Boris Johnson had pledged to provide gigabit-speed broadband in every house in Britain by the end of 2025, with a budget of £5bn for this Gigabit Broadband Plan. Even then it was considered as a little ‘over-the-board’ plan and many industry watchers believed that it was quite unrealistic to achieve this target of providing gigabit-speed broadband in Britain’s hardest-to-reach areas, which cover almost 20% of rural areas with around 6 million premises.
Now, on 25th November 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented the UK’s 2020 Spending Review, and he confirmed that the industry watchers were right and Boris Johnson’s plan was a little ‘too optimistic.’ As per Rishi Sunak, the maximum gigabit broadband coverage that can be expected to reach by the end of 2025 is around 85%. He further stated that the budget for this Gigabit Broadband Plan will remain the same, but it will be broken down into small portions until 2024, with around £1.2 bn spend out of the total £5bn budget.
The National Infrastructure Strategy document claims to still try to achieve the maximum gigabit-speed broadband coverage by 100% all over Britain, but the budget allocation for the next 4 years is indicative that even the government knows and admits that the initial plan itself was quite unachievable, and it will take a lot more years to be able to reach that target. Especially when the final 20% of the rural areas are considered as the hardest-to-reach to provide them with the gigabit-speed broadband service. Also, the government has hinted that the provision of gigabit broadband to the final 1% of these areas is going to be quite expensive too.
Gigabit-speed broadband in Britain and its implications
Gigabit broadband is internet connectivity that provides an average download rate of 1GB per second. It means that a 5GB file will download within 40 seconds at this speed.
Gigabit broadband uses fiber-optic lines. Currently, the fiber optic broadband that is provided by several internet service providers use the technology of Fiber to the Cabinet (FTTC). It means that the fiber connection runs through cabinets installed at the roadside, but finally, the internet service at homes comes through the old telephone lines.
For gigabit broadband, the internet service providers have to use another technology called Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) or Fiber to the Home (FTTH), so that fiber lines run through the homes and directly connect to the internet router to provide the service.
The implications of gigabit broadband service are the same as that of any other internet service, just faster and more efficient. It would have greatly helped people living in the rural areas of the UK who receive less than 30 Mb/second download rate. So, this news is a blow to the hopes of all those rural communities.
Anyway, there is a possibility that the commercial providers may lay FTTP or FTTH fiber optic networks and cover around 70% of premises before 2026, and that too, without the help of the government.
I’m Ava Paul, an experienced news website author with a special focus on the entertainment section. Over the past five years, I have worked in various positions of media and communication at World Stock Market. My experience has given me extensive knowledge in writing, editing, researching and reporting on stories related to the entertainment industry.
