95% of the UK Can Now Access a 24Mbps+ Capable Fixed Line “Superfast Broadband”

 

As a result of the national £1.7bn Broadband Delivery UK programme, (BDUK) government figures show that this high level has been achieved.

What’s more – it’s on time. We’re not being cynical but that’s not a phrase you see very often linked to government efforts. So, well done BDUK.

The new target now is that the network will reach 98% of premises around the end of 2020.

In 2017 alone around 800,000 homes and businesses were reached through the scheme, alongside commercial delivery, with Openreach delivering a major proportion of this achievement (774,000).

Set up in 2010/11, BDUK was designed to deliver superfast broadband beyond the levels that commercial operators were planning, which was around 76% of UK premises.

Government funding of around £700m has been matched by £900m+ from local bodies such as councils.

BDUK contracts have a gainshare clause, which requires operators to return part of the public investment as take-up of the new service rises, cash which can then be reinvested to further improve coverage.

BT has revealed that £477 million might become available for reinvestment through this scheme. Efficiency savings in the order of around £210 million have also contributed and will help the programme to reach 98% coverage for a total of £687m for reinvestment.

It must be said that the BDUK programme has had its detractors with many saying that it took the Government far too long to become more accepting of smaller alternative network ISPs, which enabled BT to hoover up pretty much all the original Phase 1 contracts and many of those in Phase 2.

BDUK also failed to follow most other EU countries by setting a solid target for achieving 100% coverage of superfast broadband. Also, BDUK define “superfast” as speeds of “greater than 24 Megabits per second” while most of the EU and Ofcom has set a figure of 30Mbps+ since 2009/10.

Having said that, despite the absence of a 100% coverage target, the UK’s existing coverage of 30Mbps+ capable broadband is well ahead of most other EU states.

In addition, the government has claimed that the project has “delivered a significant boost to local economies,” creating around 50,000 new local jobs and generating an additional £8.9 billion in turnover in the areas covered by the Government’s rollout between 2013 and 2016.