Shropshire Includes Wireless Under its Fibre Based Broadband Definition

Over the year’s we’ve talked a lot about the different ways in which Government’s and operators choose to define terms like “fibre broadband” and now the local authority in Shropshire has managed to water it down further by adding wireless connections into the mix.

According to the local authority’s response to a recent Market Engagement effort for future broadband expansion, “Shropshire Council has an aspiration to connect all its businesses and households with access to fibre*1 based broadband, with as many as possible having access to Superfast Broadband” (here). A closer look at that asterisk reveals the following.

Shropshire’s Definition of Fibre Based Broadband

*1 Fibre based broadband is simply a broadband internet connection which uses fibre optic backhaul somewhere between the premise and the exchange. This can include various technologies including fixed wireless and traditional copper/fibre variants.

The debate over what type of connections can and cannot be included under the term “fibre” isn’t going away any-time soon. The purists usually maintain that it should only apply to true fibre optic connections (FTTP/H) that deliver the optical line all the way to your doorstep, while the big ISPs believe that it can also be used alongside hybrid-fibre services that also make use of some metal copper / coax cables (FTTC / DOCSIS etc.).

But until now we’ve at least been able to count on “fibre” being broadly a term that was used to describe fixed line solutions. In fairness this is really just Shropshire encouraging a technology neutral approach to future deployments, which is a good thing to see and future roll-out phases will hopefully make more use of fixed wireless connections when tackling remote rural areas.

Never the less we could do with less dilution of the term, not more. France recently took a very tough line on such things (here).