Skip to main content

Why UK Superfast Broadband Plan is Underfunded

Delegates at the recent Westminster e-Forum were warned by Point Topic that the £530 million allocated to the planned broadband infrastructure development across the UK is inadequate funding.

The warning came from Point Topic Chief Analyst, Tim Johnson. Speaking to an audience of top broadband executives and politicians, Mr Johnson said, "The Coalition says it aims to provide the UK with the best superfast broadband in Europe, with a minimum 2 megabits per second connection speed for every household. To hit that they will have to find a lot more money from somewhere."

For example, Point Topic estimates that about 6.3 million homes and businesses will need some degree of subsidy to get superfast broadband services at an affordable price. But the whole amount proposed in the Spending Review would be needed just for the 900,000 or so who would require the biggest subsidy, leaving 5.4 million without up-to-date broadband services.

Johnson pointed out that the French are now proposing to spend €660 million (£570 million) of public money per year between now and 2025 to achieve their broadband aims, more than the UK is budgeting for over the whole Spending Review period.

Another €200 million (£170 million) per year is due to come from local government and European funds. "If anything, the French objectives are less ambitious than ours are supposed to be," according to Johnson. "They are also working on a more realistic timescale."

The French program will be funded mainly by a tax on fixed and mobile phone connections, very similar to that proposed for the UK by the previous government. "But that's water under the bridge now," said Johnson. "I’m sure the Coalition won't want to raise the money that way."

Johnson suggests instead that the money could be found by changing the priorities of the Coalition's £40 billion infrastructure investment program.

"Broadband helps more people, provides more benefits per pound and is greener than even the most modern railway," he said. "George Osborne needs to shave another billion or so out of other investment program to give us a truly modern economy."

Popular posts from this blog

Human Resource Transformation Enabled by IT

Many senior executives are taking a proactive approach to digital business transformation in order to achieve their strategic goals. Delivering revenue growth and profitability is now imperative for every function, including Human Resources (HR). The top 3 priority HR technologies this year are skills management, learning experience platforms, and internal talent marketplaces, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. "With a tumultuous global economy, HR technology leaders face a balancing act in 2023," said Sam Grinter, director at Gartner . "Leaders must anticipate greater levels of accountability and demand for measurable outcomes to justify new technology investments." HR Transformation Market Development Forty-four percent of HR leaders report driving better business outcomes is their number one strategic priority for HR technology transformation over the next three years. Growth in headcount and skills (26 percent) and cost optimization (17 p

Virtual Reality Market Set to Reach $100 Billion

Virtual Reality (VR) market growth is now finally coming to fruition. Thanks to current actions and market momentum, VR is approaching what can be considered critical mass. And, not a moment too soon. This growth momentum comes from new hardware and content releases, accelerating enterprise value recognition, and a significant metaverse wild card that could potentially lift adoption and usage. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, over 85 million VR Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) will be shipped in 2027 across consumer and enterprise segments, creating a $100 billion VR market that includes hardware, software, and services. Virtual Reality Market Development "Expectations have been high in VR for years, and even decades, without notable growth to show. That growth is finally coming over the next five years," said Eric Abbruzzese, research director at ABI Research . The barrier to entry is lower than ever, all while content performance and user experien

How Savvy Pioneers Lead the Future of Work

Hybrid and fully remote work are inevitable in the Global Networked Economy where high-performance talent demands flexibility from employers. To enable these progressive work models, organizations are investing in a wide range of technologies to support more agile types of employment.  According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), leading organizations will spend nearly $1 billion on the Future of Work (FoW) in 2023 -- that's an increase of 18.8 percent over 2022. Future of Work Market Development "Work models continue to evolve, but 37 percent of decision-makers in a recent global survey note that Remote and Hybrid work models will be an embedded part of accepted work practices, supported by a continued shift to the cloud, increasingly instrumented and interconnected physical workplaces, and intelligent digital workspaces," said Holly Muscolino, group vice president at IDC . According to the IDC assessment, organizations must mak