UK Govt. Opts Out Of 2025 Full-Fibre For All Promise

The UK government has reiterated a promise to roll out gigabit broadband across the UK but has opted out of a pledge to deliver it by 2025, reports BBC News. Prime Minister Boris Johnson proposed the target while campaigning to become Tory party leader and chancellor Sajid Javid subsequently committed EUR 5 billion of public funding to bring full-fibre and 5G networks to the “hardest-to-reach 20 percent of the country” at the Conservative party conference in September. However, briefing details provided following the Queen’s Speech on the government agenda failed to mention the 2025 commitment for “gigabit-capable” broadband, said the report.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has apparently listened to industry concerns about the viability of the 2025 pledge and chosen to pursue a tech-agnostic approach, added the report. Rather than stipulating buildings need to be connected to exchanges by their own fibre links, the focus is on promising gigabit speeds, including a requirement for “virtually all” new-build developments to include gigabit-capable connections. The 2025 deadline has also been replaced by a pledge to achieve nationwide coverage “as soon as possible”.―Telecompaper