Gov Launch New £7m Fund to Test UK Rural Broadband Solutions UPDATE

The UK Government will today launch a new £7 million fund as one part of their wider Unleashing Rural Opportunity strategy, which will be used to “test out new ways” of bringing together satellite, wireless (FWA and mobile) and fixed line broadband ISP solutions to help “support farmers and tourism businesses” in rural areas.

The announcement makes no mention of “gigabit-capable broadband” and so it’s probably safe to assume that any related trials will be focused on the 0.3% of UK premises (i.e. under 100,000) that have previously been identified as being “Very Hard to Reach” (i.e. too expensive for even the £5bn Project Gigabit rollout to tackle). The focus here thus tends to be on sub-gigabit speeds.

The Government has long been consulting on alternative options for tackling such areas (here) and we’ve already seen limited deployments that use Starlink’s mega-constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites (here). Not to mention the recent £8m grant scheme to help connect up to 35,000 of the “most remote properties” via solutions from BT, LEO satellite operator OneWeb and Clarus on Shetland in Scotland and Lundy Island in Devon (here).

At this stage, there’s no solid information on precisely what networks and operators will be involved in the trials under the new £7m fund. But it’s hoped that the result will “help rural businesses in trial areas make the most of new agricultural technologies by improving connectivity on their land, for example using new drone technology to monitor crops and livestock in real-time, support landscape and wildlife conservation efforts, or develop interactive experiences for tourists.”

The fund is said to be “one of a broad range of steps the government is taking” to boost rural communities on housing, transport, digital connectivity and jobs, which has been set out today as part of their new publication – Unleashing Rural Opportunity. Rural areas already contribute 15% to England’s economy, which amounts to over £250bn of the national GDP, but the programme seeks to unlock further growth.

UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said:

“I have pledged to build a better future for people in this country, and our rural communities are right at the heart of that promise.

That’s why I’m determined to make sure that their interests are front and centre of all our work to grow the economy and strengthen our communities – so that every part of our country gets the support it needs to thrive.”

Speaking of Project Gigabit, today’s announcement also confirms that the Government currently plans to procure all regional contracts in England under the scheme by the end of 2024, although it seems to be taking a lot longer for the politicians to make similar progress on related procurements for Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

In case anybody has forgotten, Project Gigabit aims to extend 1Gbps capable (download speed) networks to reach at least 85% of premises by the end of 2025 and then nationwide coverage (c. 99%) by around 2030 (here). The focus for public investment is on the final 20% of UK premises, since commercial deployments alone are currently expected to tackle the first 80%+.

However, one criticism of the Government’s announcement today is that they claim “over 730,000 premises have already been upgraded in hard-to-reach rural areas as part of our £5 billion Project Gigabit investment“, although what they should have said is that over 730,000 premises are tentatively due to be upgraded in the future (i.e. most of the related build for contracted projects is only just getting underway now).

UPDATE 7th June 2023

The full Unleashing Rural Opportunity document is now online, which also reveals that the Government plan to launch a consultation (yes.. another one) on improving broadband for very hard to reach premises during the summer.

This will include proposals on service requirements, how to address barriers to industry delivery and how to continue supporting very hard to reach areas, such as by encouraging the provision of fixed wireless access and satellite services. The wheels of progress on this front do turn oh so very slowly.