UK government lowers gigabit target to 85%: What do the experts think?
Published on
Nov 26, 2020
Yesterday, as part of a broader spending review, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the plans for 100% coverage of gigabit broadband by 2025 have been reduced to just 85%. While the £5 billion promised for the project remains the same, these funds will be released more slowly than previously planned, with just £1.2 billion to be made available until 2024. At this year’s Connected Britain conference, the topic of achieving the government’s gigabit targets were addressed by numerous panels, which overall displayed a sense of optimism – provided that regulations were adjusted to facilitate the operators as much as possible. Organising this regulation is itself huge challenge, a constant back-and-forth between the operators and the regulator. However, despite progress, this target reduction could indicate that achieving the regulatory balance required is too tall an order…