UPDATE House of Commons Debate UK Superfast Broadband Rollout

The House of Commons (Westminster) will today debate the Government’s national Broadband Delivery UK programme (dominated by BT contracts) and related commitments to improve mobile network coverage at 3pm in the Commons Chamber. But it probably won’t result in much change.

The Backbench Business Committee debate will consider a motion, which states that “this House notes variations in the effectiveness of roll-out of fixed and mobile superfast broadband in different parts of the UK; and calls on the Government to host a not-spot summit to consider the ways to tackle this issue.”

At present the Government already aims to make fixed line superfast broadband (24Mbps+) speeds available to 95% of the UK by 2017/18, which rises to 99% by 2018 if you include wireless solutions like Mobile Broadband (4G) and Fixed Wireless Access networks.

The vast majority of the above BDUK commitment is being delivered through contracts with BT and a few alternative network providers, such as Gigaclear, AB Internet, Airband and others. The major Mobile Network Operators (Three UK, Vodafone, O2 and EE) are also playing their part, both in terms of boosting population and landmass coverage (here).

In addition, the Government are also exploring alternative solutions (e.g. fixed wireless, pure fibre optic networks and a subsidy for superfast Satellite services) to help cater for the final 5% of the UK’s premises (around 1.5 million properties). On top of that a new Universal Service Obligation (USO) is currently being considered that would require BT, and possibly other operators, to deliver a minimum broadband speed of 5Mbps or more (Ofcom and the FSB often call for 10Mbps).

Some support (UK Guarantees Scheme) is also being offered to BT and Virgin Media in order to help them deploy “ultrafast” (100Mbps+) networks to millions more premises, but at present that is more of a commercial initiative than a state aid fuelled one and isn’t likely to benefit many rural areas (if any at all).

However, despite some good progress (here) and a strong likelihood of achieving the original 90% BDUK coverage target within the next few months, many continue to question the quality of the connectivity being delivered. There are also concerns that enough isn’t being done to plug the final 5% (the nature of such networks mean that the final 5% are one of the most expensive to tackle).

Some have also raised frustrations about the length of time being taken to deploy the infrastructure, although this aspect is perhaps a bit unfair since building new telecoms networks has and always will be an inherently time consuming process. Never the less around 40,000 extra premises are benefiting every week and it’s worth noting that to deploy a pure fibre optic network across the country would take many years longer.

The Government currently intends to set out their funding and strategy for tackling the final 5% as part of November’s Autumn Statement (Spending Review) announcement, which is long overdue. In that sense it’s no surprise to find that another debate on the subject is due to be held today, although we’ve seen quite a few before and they rarely appear to have much of an impact upon the overall strategy.

Mind you it’s likely that the outcome of Ofcom’s current Strategic Review of Digital Communications, which is considering whether or not to separate BT from control of their national UK phone and broadband network (Openreach), will have considerably more impact on the industry.

In the meantime it’s worth noting that the House of Commons Select Committee for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is also continuing to conduct an inquiry into the national broadband programme (here).

Watch the Commons Debate LIVE (Starts 2:30pm)
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/b0c3fd11-0b34-4676-91d5-53c762b93f13

Related Research Briefing for the Commons Debate
http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CDP-2015-0069

UPDATE 13th October 2015

A full transcript of last night’s debate can be found online at the link below.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/../151012-0002.htm#15101217000001