Broadband Britain by 2015?

Stuart Borgman - 27 July 2010

The new coalition government has pledged to make Britain the fastest broadband nation in Europe by 2015, as well as ensure a minimum broadband speed of 2Mb is available to every home in Britain.

As a nation we are often quick to look at this type of statement with sceptical eyes and question our ability to deliver. If I look back eight years to 2002 when Ben Verwaayen arrived at BT, there were approximately 100,000 ADSL broadband lines in UK homes. Outside of BT there were only a handful of small providers offering broadband access, mostly focused on the business market who could afford the high monthly costs. It was at this point the government first put its focus on Broadband Britain and motivated Ben Verwaayen to invest in broadband.

By 2005 there were over 5 million subscribers deployed by BT Wholesale, plus 2.2 million using cable NTL Telewest (now part of Virgin Media Business). And the options for broadband access continued to grow. Regulation has allowed alternate operators access to BT exchanges to deploy their own broadband services rather than use BT's wholesale service. There have also been new services developed using technologies such as 3G Mobile Broadband and Fibre based solutions. Recent figures suggest there are 18 million broadband connections in the UK and another 1.4 million expected next year. (It's unlikely this correlates exactly to the number of homes with broadband; estimated at 26 million.)

Considering where we started in 2002, the development of broadband has been impressive and in my view we should applaud the work of the service providers. I also believe it demonstrates the strength of the UK telecommunication's market, which is one of the most open and competitive in Europe.

So where does this leave the government and their ability to achieve the target of broadband to all homes with at least 2 Mbit/s by 2015? The challenge should not be under estimated. The Pareto principle or the 80:20 rule is often used loosely in the telecommunications industry. Typically 20% of the problem takes 80% of the time and cost. This appears to apply to Broadband Britain, where the rural areas are seen as the 20% challenge. Ironically the rural areas could benefit the most from broadband connectivity.

However, this is where wireless technology could be the government's saviour. In 2011 the 800 Mhz analogue TV digital dividend and 2.6 Ghz spectrums will come up for auction, which will result in either a Wimax or more likely LTE opportunity for high speed broadband. For this auction the Government needs to consider their strategy carefully if they want to encourage a rapid deployment of high speed broadband using this spectrum before 2015. Some of the deeper pocketed operators have only recently deployed their 3G solution. These would be the likely winners of an auction, but if they obtain the license, they may delay nationwide deployment beyond 2015 to maximise their 3G investment.

Putting Wimax and LTE aside, wireless is more than just broadcast radio. Microwave radio has been used by the mobile operators for over 20 years to provide point-to-point connectivity to rural areas. The technology development has not slowed and remains a powerful tool for high speed connectivity to challenging areas, although it may just need a sprinkling of 3G or LTE for the last hop to the home.

So with a little more help from the government to motivate the service providers, I believe the technology and capability is there to achieve the 2015 challenge, as long as the industry has the incentive to move quickly...

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