The Labour Government has renewed its commitment to bringing Gigabit connectivity to the entire country but the pace is slow and not everyone is prepared to wait…
The British government is to give contracts worth £800 million to Openreach to build broadband infrastructure in hard to reach rural areas. Openreach is incumbent BT Group’s semi-detached, wholesale fixed access unit.
The contracts are part of the £5 billion Project Gigabit, which was announced by Boris Johnson in 2019 as a flagship policy – and its targets scaled down and pushed back after Johnson won the General Election at the end of that year.
Virgin Media O2 published research at the end of last month, while trumpeting its contribution to the national mobile Shared Rural Network (SRN). It found that up to 66% of young people are set to leave rural areas, saying they’re being driven away by a lack of career opportunities (30%), poor access to services (25%) and a lack of high-quality connectivity (24%).
The SRN initiative was also set up by the Johnson administration in 2019 to extend 4G connectivity to 95% of the UK’s landmass by the end of 2025, although it too has been subject to delays.
At least the new Labour Government has picked up the Project Gigabit baton within weeks of coming to power, but how fast the initiative progresses remains to be seen. Elizabeth Anderson, CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, commented, “Millions across the country still struggle to access basic online services due to poor connectivity, especially in rural regions, so it’s excellent to see the government’s renewed push to roll out improved broadband.”
Latest Project Gigabit contracts
The latest signed contracts, worth £288 million, cover 96,000 homes in difficult terrain in England (such as the Exmoor National Park and the Forest of Bowland, pictured), and the valleys of south Wales. They are intended to “provide access to lightning-fast gigabit-capable broadband to around 312,000 homes and businesses… It is the first time Wales, the region with the lowest percentage of gigabit coverage, will benefit from this programme,” noted the UK government.
The statement continued, “The landmark deal with telecoms provider Openreach represents one of the biggest milestones in the rollout of Project Gigabit, which targets places too expensive for providers to reach in their commercial build and which would otherwise be left behind with poor digital infrastructure.
It will help meet the growing demand for reliable connectivity, stimulating local rural economies and reducing regional disparities, by enabling remote working and attracting new businesses. The announcement follows this Government’s vow to redouble its efforts to achieve full gigabit coverage by 2030 and harness the enormous potential of technology to grow the economy, accelerate innovation and improve people’s lives.”
More to come
Further talks are underway with Openreach regarding contracts to reach about 215,800 more premises across England, Scotland and Wales, with more announcements “expected in the coming months”.
Areas expected to benefit from them include Central and North Scotland, North and South West Wales, Mid and South Devon, East and South Shropshire, North Herefordshire, North Somerset, Essex, North East England and Worcestershire.
Meanwhile, in Norfolk
Norfolk County Council and its partner CGI announced they have provided ultra-fast reliable broadband to remote areas using low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite technology, with a free-to-use public wireless service. Norfolk is one of England’s largest and most sparsely populated counties.
The partners say the deployment complements Project Gigabit. They have worked with suppliers Ingen and Onwave to implement the solution, as many isolated areas not expected to benefit from fibre access until 2026 or later.
CGI’s more immediate solution to meet demand is at a lower cost than fibre deployment. Norfolk County Council (NCC) and CGI have worked together to speed up the delivery of ultrafast connectivity to rural areas much earlier than otherwise possible.