Is £400m enough to fix UK broadband?

A new Government fund hopes to deliver 1Gbps speeds across the country

Whenit comes to getting fast broadband, one letter can make a huge difference. What counts is whether your service is FTTP (fibre to the premises) or FTTC (fibre to the cabinet). The former is faster because instead of stopping at a cabinet on the street (from where copper cables take over) fibre-broadband is delivered to your doorstep, giving you speeds of up to 1Gbps (that’s 1,000Mbps). But only two per cent of homes can get FTTP, a figure the Government hopes to increase by spending £400m on broadband infrastructure.

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the outlay in the Autumn Statement, setting up a Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund. He wants broadband companies to match the amount, boosting the total to £800m within four years. The aim is to provide FTTP to two million more homes and businesses.

However, critics say that the Government should first focus on delivering FTTC (and speeds of at least 24Mbps) to more people before aiming higher with FTTP.

Neil Fraser from satellite-broadband provider Viasat said: “If we don’t engage the whole country, we are at risk of a two-tiered internet system, where those areas with fast services reap the benefits in terms of education, opportunity and investment, while those without broadband are left further behind”.

Others question whether most people actually need 1Gbps broadband, typically referred to as ‘ultra-fast’. To demonstrate the benefit of FTTP, the Government said that it’s fast enough to download in seconds an entire series of the TV show Game of Thrones. This claim was slammed as “fatuous nonsense”, by Dan Bowdle of broadband-comparison site Cable.co.uk, who pointed out that you can already stream TV shows in seconds with 8Mbps broadband.

He added: “Let us not forget, there is currently no known or useful purpose for ultrafast broadband”.

Bowdle also doubts that FTTP will be delivered to the areas that need it most - rural communities. He said that cities and towns will be top of the list because “there is an economic incentive for those providing the service”. Some industry experts think that a disproportionate amount of the money will be spent on London and south-east England.

However, the new fund should boost competition in the broadband market. The Government wants the money to go to smaller companies who specialise in fibre broadband. It will help these ‘alternative networks providers’ take on the giants of BT, Sky and Virgin.

Unsurprisingly, smaller firms are delighted by the investment. Dana Tobak, CEO of Hyperoptic ( www. hyperoptic.com), which offers 1Gbps for £31 a month, said the fund “is a no-brainer as it supports our increasingly digital-dependent economy”.

Her enthusiasm is laudable, but millions of people will wonder why they should dream of 1Gbps when 24Mbps is still beyond them. As uswitch’s Ewan Taylor-Gibson says: “Superfast fibre broadband is available to 90 per cent of the UK, yet 20 of the UK’S 42 biggest cities are registering actual average speeds of below 24Mbps”. A staggering 30 per cent of broadband users get speeds of less than 5Mbps .

All industry experts agree that more money is urgently needed to “future-proof” the UK, and welcome the £740m the Government is spending on 5G mobile networks. But there’s real concern that the £400m FTTP fund will widen the UK’S digital divide. A privileged elite will enjoy life in the fast lane, leaving most of us stuck in first gear.

There is currently no known or useful purpose for ultrafast broadband