UK broadband update November 2017

Policy developments:

The 2017 Autumn Budget included a range of measures to support the development of 5G and full-fibre broadband:

“5G testbeds and trials – The UK has an opportunity to become a world leader in 5G, which is the next generation of mobile communications. The government will invest a further £160 million from the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) in new 5G infrastructure. The first projects to benefit are:

• £10 million to create facilities where the security of 5G networks can be tested and proven, working with the National Cyber Security Centre
• £5 million for an initial trial, starting in 2018, to test 5G applications and deployment on roads, including helping to test how we can maximise future productivity benefits from self-driving cars, building on the work already progressing on connected and autonomous vehicle trials in the West Midlands

Local full-fibre networks – Full-fibre is the gold standard for fast and reliable broadband. The government is launching a new £190 million Challenge Fund that local areas around the country will bid for to encourage faster rollout of full-fibre networks by industry. Children in 100 schools around the country will be some of the first to benefit, starting with a pilot in the East Midlands in early 2018.

Rail passenger communications – The government will shortly consult on commercial options to improve mobile communications for rail passengers and will invest up to £35 million to enable trials. This will be used to: upgrade the Network Rail test track in Melton Mowbray; install trackside infrastructure along the Trans-Pennine route between Manchester, Leeds and York; and support the rollout of full-fibre and 5G networks.”

Other UK broadband policy developments this month

• The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced a £2m trial of a gigabit broadband voucher scheme for businesses. Vouchers worth between £500 and £3000 can be used to pay installation costs. The scheme is part of the £23m National Productivity Investment Fund and will be available in four areas: Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Bristol with Bath and North East Somerset, Coventry and Warwickshire and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
• DCMS also launched the cross-government Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, which will explore what makes investment in full fibre and 5G networks attractive and what government can do to promote the right conditions to achieve widespread coverage. It will issue a call for evidence shortly with the review’s findings to be published in summer 2018.
• DCMS also announced that its Better Broadband Scheme which provides subsidies for access to basic broadband in areas unable to access minimum 2Mbit/s services has been extended for a further year.
• The UK Industrial Strategy Commission published its final report, calling for every person in the UK to be able to access "basic infrastructure", such as transport links, utilities, schools and broadband. Also see commentaries from Out-Law and ISP Review.
• The government launched its Industrial Strategy, setting out a long-term vision for “how Britain can build on its economic strengths, address its productivity performance, embrace technological change and boost the earning power of people across the UK.” The strategy includes over £1 billion of public investment in digital infrastructure, including £176 million for 5G and £200 million for local areas to encourage the roll out of full-fibre networks.
• Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor Phillip Hammond hosted a Downing Street reception for the tech sector, announcing a series of measures to support the continued growth and success of the sector. These included a £21m investment to expand Tech City UK into a nationwide network – Tech Nation – to accelerate the growth of the digital tech sector across the country and a £20m fund to boost public sector productivity through the application of digital technologies.
• In his speech to the 2017 Broadband Stakeholder Group Conference, Minister for Digital Matt Hancock reinforced the government’s commitment to a ‘full-fibre future’ for UK broadband: “a copper-to-the-premise solution is not fit for the future”. The Local Full Fibre Networks programme aims to provide “the fastest and most reliable broadband available”. In a later speech at The Times and The Sunday Times Tech Summit 2017 he provided an update on progress with the government’s Digital Strategy since its launch in March of this year.
• The Telegraph reported Matt Hancock’s comments that Scotland is lagging behind the rest of the UK in terms of its broadband roll-out (also see ThinkBroadband). The Scottish Government announced that 57public buildings in Aberdeen are to be provided with broadband speeds of up to 1Gbit/s through the £254 million investment package for the region, which is in addition to the £125 million Aberdeen City Region Deal. 

Consumer broadband/broadband service quality:

• Ofcom announced that broadband and landline users will in future be compensated automatically for slow repairs, missed appointments and delayed installations, rather than consumers having to claim compensation.
• New speed test data from Which? that compared estimates against actual speeds showed that providers could overestimate broadband speed by up to 62%.
• The Advertising Standards Authority published the findings from its review of fibre broadband advertising, together with new requirements that numerical speed claims in broadband ads should be based on the download speed available to at least 50% of customers at peak time and described in ads as “average”. The ASA concluded that the word ‘fibre’ is unlikely to mislead consumers as it is currently used in the advertising of part-fibre broadband services. CityFibre, Hyperoptic and Gigaclear issued a joint statement criticising the ASA’s conclusions.
• An ASA Ruling on Plusnet plc required that in future business-to-business advertising must make clear the overall monthly cost of a broadband package and all up-front costs that are paid by most customers.

New research & analysis:

• The government published its latest Broadband Performance Indicator: 4,651,700 premises had a superfast broadband service made available by the end of September 2017 as a result of Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) supported projects.
• The National Housing Federation published its Rural Life Monitor 2017, highlighting that “rural connectivity to broadband and public transport limits the number of people willing to start and run businesses from rural areas”, contributing to the trend for young people to move away from rural communities.
• uSwitch reported that three in ten mobile users suffer patchy or no call reception at home. Four in ten (43%) have had calls cutting out, and 37% have suffered no reception at all when trying to make or take calls at home.
• Cambridge Broadband Networks (CBNL) published its 2017 UK Enterprise Broadband Index based on a survey of 200 businesses. Eighty-nine percent of said they would consider switching to wireless broadband, demonstrating “the enormous market opportunity that exists for disruptive wireless carriers.” Every respondent admitted that poor broadband has negatively impacted their performance over the last two years.
• ISP Review reported on a survey of its readers of demand for G.fast ultrafast broadband; 75.4% of the 1,834 respondents were interested in upgrading to the service. The ability to access multiple high quality video streams simultaneously and faster downloads for large files (such as those required for gaming) are suggested as drivers for this demand.
• A study of pricing in 196 countries by Cable found that the UK is 62nd cheapest for broadband: Iran offers the world's cheapest broadband, with an average monthly cost of USD 5.37. Burkina Faso is the most expensive, with an average package price of USD 954.54 per month
• PublicTechnology reported that the UK is “underperforming” in the digitisation of government services and needs to improve in its offerings on a number of “key enablers” to digital government, including electronic identification and data-sharing, according to the European Commission’s egovernment Benchmark 2017 report.

Other developments:

• BBC News reported on the pilot of 24-hour service offering NHS patients GP consultations via smartphones. The GP at hand service will initially cover 3.5 million patients in greater London and includes online healthcare provider Babylon as a partner.