UK broadband update June 2016

Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) published a request for proposals in relation to the Broadband Investment Fund proposed in the 2015 Autumn Statement and 2016 Budget: “The aim is to support the growth of the ultrafast broadband industry, particularly alternative ultrafast broadband network developers, by providing greater access to finance on a commercial basis.” The government is considering providing up to 50% of the total funds; proposals are being sought from prospective fund managers that would be responsible for sourcing the accompanying private sector investment. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is managing the delivery of the Fund on behalf of the Treasury and the intention is to select a manager by autumn 2016 and for funds to be closed and in a position to begin investing by the end of the current fiscal year (March 2017). Also see commentary from ISP Review.

Computer Weekly and uSwitch reported remarks by BDUK Chief Executive Chris Townsend at this month’s Connected Britain conference that £280m will be reinvested in Phase 2 of BDUK’s programme. This is based on an underspend of £150m by local authorities during Phase 1 and the £129m being recovered from BT under the gain share claw-back mechanism (more background on this here).

The Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) published its response to the government’s recent review of business broadband; more background on this here and here. The EEF suggests that manufacturers’ primary focus is on a digital infrastructure that is cost effective, reliable and resilient and which must also be future-proof. It also warns that the UK’s ongoing focus on speed is potentially distracting policy makers from delivering what industry really needs, and suggests that the government must be prepared to take leadership in “mandating a full Fibre to the Premise rollout before it’s too late”.

The Country Land & Business Association (CLA) renewed its call for better broadband for rural areas, in preparation for a new report to be published at the CLA’s Rural Business Conference in December 2016. The CLA cite that nearly 50 percent of rural premises are unable to receive speeds higher than 10Mbit/s, while 31 percent of people in rural areas have indoor coverage of all mobile networks compared to 91 percent in urban areas. A study by Kings College London found that use of the BBC iPlayer in the UK appears to be affected by regional broadband speeds, with areas of higher speeds showing greater use, again highlighting poorer broadband speeds in predominantly rural areas.

Finally, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) announced that it is to conduct research into consumers’ understanding of broadband speed claims made in advertisements, while Which? called for rules governing the advertising of broadband services to be tightened to reflect likely speeds more accurately (more on broadband advertising here).