Survey Finds Support for UK Public Investment in Gigabit Broadband

How fast is “ultrafast broadband” and should the Government help to deploy it? The latest online survey of 2,390 ISPreview.co.uk readers has found that 24.8% would commit £15bn+ of state aid to support its roll-out and 48.1% believe it should be defined via a speed of 1Gbps+ (Gigabit per second).

Traditionally many industry analysts and observes have tended to think of “ultrafast” as starting at 100Mbps (Megabits per second), although last year the United Kingdom’s telecoms regulator, Ofcom, chose to define it as needing to offer download speeds of greater than 300Mbps.

However there seems to be strong support for adopting a much stronger definition and similarly 62.3% felt that symmetrical performance (i.e. the same download and upload speed) should be a key requirement, which would make it difficult to deliver via anything except pure fibre optic cables.

At what download speed should the UK define the start of “ultrafast” broadband?
1Gbps+ (Gigabit) – 48.1%
300Mbps+ – 26.5%
100Mbps+ – 23.9%
None of the above – 1.4%

Should symmetrical speed (same download and upload rate) be a requirement of the definition?
Yes – 62.3%
No – 37.6%

Should the government put public money towards deploying “ultrafast” broadband in rural areas?
Yes – 78.2%
No – 21.7%

How much public money?
£15bn+ – 24.8%
£5bn – 21.2%
None! – 19.9%
£10bn – 17.5%
£1-4bn – 16.3%

Governments’ around the world, particularly in the EU and United Kingdom, are in the process of planning future policy for the support of “ultrafast” style connectivity (example), but how we choose to define its performance could have a big impact on the cost of deployment. Gigabit connectivity, for example, tends to require a pure fibre optic infrastructure and thus attracts the highest cost due to the need for extensive civil works.

A variety of reports have estimated that the cost of rolling out a pure fibre optic network to every corner of the United Kingdom could end up reaching £20-30bn, although we have to hope that a big chunk of that would come through private investment.

However the commercial models tend to break down outside of urban areas – with some exceptions like B4RN’s community approach or Gigaclear’s demand-led rural strategy – and that’s when the Government may need to step in.

Recently the Government’s new Digital Minister, Matthew Hancock, has signalled that he believes the future will depend upon ‘Gigabit speeds‘ and ‘full fibre‘ [FTTH/P]. Since then the Autumn Statement has seen another £400m committed to the cause and a cut to business rates on fibre (here). All of this is going in the direct direction, but more is sure to be needed.

Meanwhile this month’s new survey asks whether or not you’re happy with your ISP? Vote Here.