Digital revolution can help build a better Britain
SLOWLY but surely, we will soon be together again. There is much to look forward to as Britain emerges from lockdown, and yesterday saw a glimpse of freedom as many tentatively return to shops, pubs and salons.
But a year on since the pandemic began, the country has also learned much about digital connectivity.
Many will continue to divide their time between homes and offices. Developments that were once expected to take years – such as remote consultations with GPs – have happened in months. And a revolution in online commerce means the economic damage wrought by lockdown has been far less catastrophic than might have been.
Internet traffic has more than doubled since the start of the crisis and few anticipate it going backwards.
On Boxing Day alone, Openreach, the shared digital business that is part of BT, carried a huge 210 petabytes – the equivalent of 210 million episodes of The Crown – as video calls and streaming kept families together and entertained. The changes we now take for granted in how we shop, socialise and study are here to stay, and soon we will want to carry it all with us on the move, too.
It’s true that lockdown has reminded us of all the contact we cherish. Nothing can replace a pint with friends or holidays in the sun with loved ones. But it is also impossible to imagine the last 12 months without the internet to keep us connected.
THE continued ability to do our weekly supermarket shop online, follow our favourite football team remotely and keep our children educated even when they can’t make it to the classroom – these have given us all a glimpse of the “new normal”.
Keeping Britain on a fast track to this digital future is now one of the most important challenges we face as a nation.
Staying connected during surging demand has not been without its frustrations. Providing enough capacity for further improvements in reliability and speed over the years to come has profound consequences for our economic competitiveness – particularly if new jobs are to spread outside large towns and cities. Fortunately, the country is heading in the right direction.
Openreach has already passed 4.5 million homes with fibre optic cabling. Fast 5G mobile phone coverage is now available in 160 towns and cities from BT’s mobile network EE, and BT has secured muchneeded new extra 5G capability.
Thanks to a decision reached by telecoms regulator Ofcom, we now have the green light to make the biggest investment in a generation – £12billion to build full fibre broadband to 20 million homes this decade.
But this is just the start. We want, and need, to go faster. To build like fury.
Full fibre broadband to the home and national 5G coverage will transform the way we think about connectivity, unleashing a wave of new digital applications that will make the last few years of progress look quaint by comparison.The generation that survived home schooling will never again accept the excuse that physical distance is the barrier it once seemed.
A strategic approach to vaccine development has given Britain a head start out of lockdown but if we want to continue this economic momentum we need a similar approach to this next technology challenge.
Together we can achieve much more to clear away the remaining barriers.
This means reforming red tape such as planning rules, the tax system and business rates to prevent infrastructure delivery
being penalised or held up by land access delays. It means us all planning long-term, working in partnership with the Government to ensure rural communities aren’t left behind.
It also means changing the way we work – investing in our people to build the right skills and persuading those reluctant to acknowledge that digital transformation means change for everyone. Standing still is not an option.
MOST of all, it needs financial investment. Our shareholders are ready to plough billions into helping the UK “build back better”, as long as they know that this is no longer an inherited public monopoly with lots of red tape, but a platform for innovation as exciting as Apple’s iPhone and Tesla’s electric cars.
Life after the pandemic will never be the same again. It has been particularly painful for those who have lost loved ones or suffered illness and isolation.
But just as the Second World War inspired collective achievements like the NHS, Covid has gifted us an opportunity for new shared national projects to bring us together and make Britain fit for the future.
‘Full fibre broadband and 5G will make last few years of progress look quaint’