{"id":9743,"date":"2015-07-22T13:16:01","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T12:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=9743"},"modified":"2015-07-22T13:29:15","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T12:29:15","slug":"ofcom-no-fibre-broadband-for-the-uks-final-5-percent-of-premises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2015\/07\/ofcom-no-fibre-broadband-for-the-uks-final-5-percent-of-premises.html","title":{"rendered":"Ofcom – No “Fibre Broadband” for the UK’s Final 5 Percent of Premises"},"content":{"rendered":"

The CEO of the United Kingdom’s communications regulator, Sharon White, has told a Culture, Media and Sport Committee in Parliament that in her view those who live in the final 5% of premises that have yet to benefit from superfast broadband will not get “fibre<\/em>” connectivity. “We are not going to get there through fibre<\/em>,” said White.<\/p>\n

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Most, but by no means all, of the final 5% are in predominantly rural areas and the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK<\/a> programme has already warned that it would be extremely expensive to reach all of those through fixed line “fibre broadband<\/em>” style connectivity methods like FTTC<\/a> or FTTP<\/a>\/H.<\/p>\n

As such BDUK is currently conducting seven Market Test Pilots<\/strong> that could help to improve connectivity for the hardest to reach areas, which involves a mix of Satellite<\/a>, fixed wireless and some more traditional fibre optic based solutions.<\/p>\n

Suffice to say that it’s probably too early to say for sure that none of those in the final 5% will get “fibre<\/em>“, although Ofcom<\/a> seem to be leaning that way already and their opinion will carry some weight.\u00a0Meanwhile many will probably not be too happy with a Satellite<\/a> quick-fix.<\/p>\n

Admittedly Ofcom<\/a> are broadly correct as it does quickly become very expensive, not least due to the lower population sizes often making it difficult to gain a return on the investment. But we still think there will be some areas in the final 5% that can benefit from better fixed line connectivity, as altnets like B4RN<\/a> have clearly demonstrated, and thus a simple catch-all statement like the one Ofcom<\/a> gave won’t always reflect the diverse reality.<\/p>\n

Check out the video below, although the embed isn’t perfect so you may wish to use full-screen mode or view direct<\/a>.<\/p>\n