Europe Moots Future Ultrafast Broadband Speed Targets for Post 2020

The European Commission’s new Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Günther Oettinger, has for the first time started to discuss what targets we should aim for after the current Digital Agenda programme completes and hopefully delivers “superfast” broadband speeds of 30Mbps+ to all by 2020; with 50% also subscribed to a 100Mbps+ service.

At this stage there’s still plenty of doubt concerning whether the whole of Europe will meet the original Digital Agenda target, although the current Government of the United Kingdom remains confident that it will have no difficulty in that department (around 80% of the UK can already access such a service); although in order to do the last 1-2% they will probably be cheating with inferior Satellite.

But Mr Oettinger, whom has also signalled a desire to relax the current state aid rules and to incentivise investment in rural areas by allowing longer contract terms and potentially more closed networks (the current rules require new broadband networks to offer open access), is now beginning to consider what comes after 2020.

Günther H. Oettinger said:

“I am wondering whether in the future an average SME with 30 employees can fully benefit from all the opportunities of a Digital Single Market with only a 30 Mbps Internet connexion. I am wondering whether a school – where, least 100 pupils learn online, at the same time, every day – can adequately prepare students for a connected digital world, if it is limited to a “superfast” 100 Mbps connexion.

I am wondering why some communities, on their own initiative, are rolling out rural networks that deliver Gigabit connectivity, when the EU’s existing targets are more than 30 times less ambitious. Thinking about our 5G ambitions, I am wondering how to maximise the potential of mobile connectivity while our current targets mostly focus on fixed locations.

I could find many more questions, but only one could sum up my concern: what capacity do our fixed and mobile digital networks need to fit our current and future connectivity needs beyond 2020?“

In keeping with this Mr Oettinger has called for a “cross-sector, cross-generational” debate on future-oriented connectivity for Europe and he plans to consult widely on the issue over the “coming months“.

In the meantime it’s important to remember that many countries are already going beyond the top performance target through commercial investment, with Virgin Media in the UK expanding its network to reach 60% of predominantly urban or suburban areas and there are also plans to double their current top speeds of 152Mbps. Not to mention Virgin’s eye on future DOCSIS 3.1 cable technology.

Meanwhile BT has also committed to a decade long roll-out of next generation hybrid-fibre G.fast (ITU G.9701) broadband technology, with more FTTP also playing a part, across the United Kingdom from 2016/17 (here). As part of this “most homes” have been told to expect speeds of ‘up to’ 500Mbps (Megabits per second).

But as ever the real challenge will be in brining such ultrafast faster speeds to the so-called “final third” (33%) of UK homes and businesses, which is likely to require significantly more public financial support and or more flexible rules than exist today. At the same time others will suggest that we should first work on achieving 30Mbps fixed line speeds to reach 100% before taking the next step.