UK Government reveals superfast broadband plans

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11922424

Every community in the UK will gain access to superfast broadband by 2015 under plans due to be outlined.

The private sector is to deliver broadband to two thirds of the UK. Other, mainly rural, areas will receive public funds to build a "digital hub" with a fibre optic internet connection.

Ministers says they aim for the UK to have Europe's best broadband network.

This will create "hundreds of thousands of jobs and add billions to our GDP", says Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The government has earmarked £830m for the scheme, with the money coming from the BBC licence fee.

Mr Hunt says the strategy will give the country Europe's best broadband network by 2015 and will be central to economic growth and the delivery of future public services, dependent on quick, reliable access to the internet.

He added that wider access to broadband services also helped "build a fairer and more prosperous society", as well as "saving billions of pounds of taxpayers' money".

A recent study by the regulator Ofcom revealed that fewer than 1% of UK homes have a superfast broadband connection, considered to be at least 24Mbps.

However, the government does not define the minimum speed it hopes superfast services will achieve.

"In order to determine what constitutes 'the best' network in Europe, we will adopt a scorecard which will focus on four headline indicators: speed, coverage, price and choice," the strategy says.

"These will be made up of a number of composite measures rather than a single factor such as headline download speed."
Difficult-to-reach areas

Much of the detail of the government's broadband strategy has previously been announced, including how it will be funded and the coalition's desire to see everyone able to access broadband with speeds of at least 2Mbps by 2015.

The coalition started with two challenges - how to get a minimum level of broadband to everyone and how to make sure that parts of Britain didn't get left out as superfast networks rolled out. Ministers have decided to roll the two tasks together into one; the aim is that those who have missed out so far will leapfrog straight from dial-up to the superfast era.

The onus will be on local authorities to work with community groups and big businesses to work out how to build the digital hub in each place. There's plenty of scope for disagreement there, as rival firms and different technologies bid for the limited pool of cash.

So how does this compare with what the last government was planning? In one way it's less ambitious - the 2012 target for universal coverage has been put back to 2015; in another way more, with a bold target of Europe's best broadband by then.

And how will that be measured? By performance on price, choice, coverage and speed. Britain does well right now on the first three, but is way down Europe's speed league. Getting to the top of the table in five years won't be easy - the likes of Sweden and the Netherlands aren't just going to stand still.

Labour promised the same minimum speed for everyone by 2012.

But the coalition says that it will now roll together its drive for universal access with its strategy to deliver superfast broadband.

At the heart of this is a plan to create a "digital hub" in every community by 2015.

"Our goal today is very simple: to deliver a fibre point in every community in the UK by the end of this parliament," Mr Hunt is expected to say when he delivers a speech outlining the strategy at the London headquarters of computer giant Microsoft.

Communities and local operators would then be expected to take on the responsibility for extending the network to individual homes.

The coalition has earmarked £50m of the £830m to pay for trials - particularly in difficult-to-reach areas - to see how it can ensure that superfast fibre optic broadband reaches these communities in the timescale.

These new trials will run alongside projects in North Yorkshire, Herefordshire, Cumbria and the Highlands and Islands, announced earlier this year.

"We will be inviting local bodies and devolved administrations right across the UK to propose new testing projects in April of next year, with a view to making a final selection in May," Mr Hunt will say.

In his speech, Mr Hunt will also confirm that the government will sell off parts of the spectrum in 2011 that could be used for mobile broadband services.
Back aches

The strategy was welcomed by the Independent Networks Cooperative Association (Inca), a group of community broadband schemes.

"It is great that the government has taken up the 'digital village pump' idea that has been put forward by a number of broadband champions," said Malcolm Corbett, CEO of Inca.

"This could go a long way to tackling one of the big problems with all rural broadband services - the costs of backhaul - the connection from the community to the internet.

"However, more needs to be done and the strategy misses some obvious opportunities, not least the way that business rates are levied on fibre."

The current regime of levies on fibre installations has been a major bone of contention, with smaller firms claiming they are discriminated against compared to giants BT and Virgin Media.

Inca's view was echoed by Trefor Davies, CTO of communications firm Timico.

"The problem with this is that it is effectively handing the cash to BT because the fibre tax system will make BT the only company able to offer a competitive backhaul," he said.

Mr Hunt said that BT had signalled that it would match the government's £830m of funding if it was awarded the contract to provide the infrastructure for the community hubs.

The firm said that if it was to "win funds on that scale" it would be able to provide fibre to 90% of the UK.

Under current plans, its fibre will extend to 66% of the UK, although only a quarter of this would be the faster Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) technology.

The rest is the slower Fibre-To-The-Cabinet (FTTC), similar to the government's "digital hub" plans.