MPs are not convinced the UK government is meeting its watered-down targets for gigabit broadband coverage, suggesting there is no detailed plan for how to reach the most remote parts of the country and that ministers are relying on too much from private companies.
The Conservative manifesto before the 2019 general election promised national fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) coverage by 2025, but the government has since backtracked. The revised target is 85%, and the government is also reneging on its commitment to use whole grain.
Meanwhile, only €1.200 billion of the €5.000 billion of funds promised in this legislature will be disbursed.
Gigabit broadband in the UK
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that while it was true that the percentage of households able to access gigabit broadband in the UK increased from 40% to 57% between May and October 2021, that was largely due to because Virgin upgraded their network. O2 media. .
Openreach plans to reach 25 million homes and businesses with full fiber by 2026, while various "altnets" like CityFibre and Hyperoptic are building FTTP networks.
However, the PAC expressed concern that the "full coverage" target for 2030 could be missed because there was no provision for the hardest-to-reach areas of the UK, some of which are not even included in this target.
A more technology-agnostic approach that includes satellite and 5G rather than full fiber may be more practical in these cases, but again PAC said it has seen no evidence of a plan. At a time when connectivity is becoming more important than ever for society, MEPs said this lack of planning risks deepening the digital divide between urban and rural areas.
“DCMS project planning and management show all the signs of past implementation – that the focus will continue to be on the most easily accessible areas and there is still no clear plan for the hardest to reach communities,” said the MP. Give me Meg Hillier, president of GORRA.
"He couldn't really explain how broadband has gotten this far in this critical national strategy, beyond 'thank you Virgin Media', and incredibly still has no real plan to make it the rest of the way to his own downgraded targets." .
"What DCMS knows only too well is that it cannot depend on the private sector to bring fast broadband to the most difficult to reach, rural and excluded areas, and despite its repeated promises to do just that, we are apparently one step closer to close 'the great digital divide that is growing across the UK nor address the social and economic inequalities it causes'.
“It is misleading to suggest that we are relying on the commercial sector to achieve our goal, which we remain on track to achieve,” DCMS responded in a statement to TechRadar.
"We're investing £5.000bn to bring hard-to-reach areas to gigabit speeds, we've already upgraded 600.000 locations and in three years national coverage has increased from 6% to 65%.
"Our policies and investments also mean that 97% of locals can access ultra-fast broadband, which meets people's needs today and has helped us through the pandemic."