UK broadband update February 2017

The Digital Economy Bill had its report stage, a further chance to examine the bill and make changes, in the House of Lords on Wednesday 22nd February. The Lords voted in favour of amending the proposed 10Mbit/s Universal Service Obligation (USO) to 30Mbit/s, on the basis that the lower speed would soon be unfit for usage. See coverage from Computer Weekly, E&T Magazine and Ars Technica. Research this month by Cable found that more than half of consumers don’t think a USO of 10Mbit/s would be sufficient: a survey of more than 500 UK adults showed that 56% think this is too slow.

The Government’s latest Broadband Performance Indicator reported that 4,309,668 premises had a superfast broadband service made available by the end of December 2016 as a result of Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) supported projects. BDUK grants to local authorities and budget transfers to devolved administrations amounted to a cumulative £513,598,393 in cash terms up to the end of December 2016.

The Scottish Government announced that more than 700,000 homes and business are now connected to fibre broadband as a result of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme, which is on target to extend broadband to 95% of premises by the end of 2017.

The Fibre to the Home (FTTH) Council Europe published its latest rankings for FTTH and fibre to the building (FTTB) subscribers in Europe. While subscribers increased by 23% across Europe over the first nine months of 2016 to 44.3 million, the UK does not currently feature in the rankings. The announcement did note that the UK government has now allocated a fund specifically dedicated to FTTH deployment; an FTTH Council Europe market forecast predicted that the UK will reach FTTH maturity (defined as 20% household FTTH penetration) after 2022, along with Germany and Italy.

ISP Review commented that FTTH in the UK is set to increase. It estimates that Gigabit capable FTTH/P/B broadband networks were available to around 800,000 homes and businesses in mid-2016 (here); the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) suggests 1 million premises passed (around 650,000 from alternative network providers and the rest from Openreach). ISP Review also suggested the UK’s omission may be as a result of the rankings being based on market penetration rather than just availability.

Further concerns were expressed this month over the Government’s business rate revaluation of fibre networks: the Financial Times reported that the heads of BT, Virgin Media, Gigaclear, Hyperoptic and CityFibre have written a joint letter to the Chancellor Philip Hammond to complain that the regime is not fit for purpose and will weaken the UK’s ability to attract inward investment. More background on this here and also see coverage from ISP Review and The Register.

Other UK broadband news this month:

• The Telegraph reported that the Government as part of its budget proposals is considering a broadband voucher scheme to provide small businesses with up to £3,000 towards connectivity costs. It also reports that consideration is being given is to encouraging councils to install broadband in their schools, GP surgeries and libraries to boost local connectivity. The paper also reported that the Government is urging Ofcom and BT to settle their dispute over the future of Openreach to avoid rural broadband delays.
• Hyperoptic reported that in a survey of 3,000 adults slow broadband speed at peak-times was the concern cited most when asked what information individuals would most like to know about a property, which is not readily available from an agent or website.
• ISP Review reported that Leeds City Council has proposed a new scheme that could generate £45m for the local economy over the next 10 years and help digitally excluded adults by giving them access to free home broadband connections, WiFi and tablet computers.
• The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) announced that Ministers have begun work on a new Internet Safety Strategy aimed at making Britain the safest country in the world for children and young people to be online. A green paper is expected in the summer.