BT is once again speeding up the rollout of super-fast broadband in what many will take as another sign that the UK economy is getting nearer and nearer to a full next-generation Internet backbone, with positive implications, surely, for the economy as a result.
After years of talking about fibre to the home, the telco says two million homes and small businesses across London will have access to high-speed fibre broadband by next Spring – meaning most of the city (and indeed ‘City’) will have access to real, next-generation digital and on-demand services.
The roll-out will involve upgrading 114 additional exchanges in the capital, supporting the delivery of 100Bbit/sec Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) or Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTC) services to 87% of the capital’s population.
Work on the new network has already begun, with BT claiming super-fast services are already available to 100,000 homes and businesses. The company is already giving Muswell Hill, Canonbury, Chingford, Edmonton, Enfield, Thamesmead and Tottenham access to its growing fibre-optic network.
BT is all in all investing more than £2.5bn in upgrading its infrastructure to support fibre broadband, and the company hopes to be offering services to two thirds of the country by 2015.
Originally the firm planned to offer the next-generation service to 40% of London households, or 10 million homes, by 2013. However last December it popped up to say it was actually ahead of schedule and was bringing the expected roll-out date forward to summer 2012.
Commercially, the move makes good sense. Its only real domestic major rival, Virgin
Media, has recently announced plans for its own 100Mbit/s services. London offers a lucrative market with a high population, and if BT can win the battle here, the company will be in a strong position to build a business case for itself, the government and investors for funding a full nationwide rollout.
Yes – some parts of the BT network will therefore lag. Some chunks of our country don’t yet have access to ADSL broadband services so providing Londoners with 100Mbit/s services while villagers in Oxfordshire and other so-called ‘broadband not-spots’ barely sputter along could lead to some difficult conversations for BT with national stake-holders.
Conversations I am quite prepared to admit could be particularly embarrassing if early demand for the super-fast services doesn’t meet expectations. Analysts point out that demand for Virgin Media’s 50 Mbit/s service has been relatively low, with just 60,000 of 3.7m customers signing up, as customers seem to be at the moment deciding the extra speed doesn’t justify the higher price ‘ticket’.
For its part, BT says that the new infrastructure will make London one of the best-connected cities in the world, and BT chief executive Ian Livingston says the new fibre and advanced copper broadband services will be of enormous benefit ahead of the Olympics in 2012. Livingston dubbed called the new network a "lasting legacy for London, enabling those living and working in the city to continue to thrive and prosper".
There’s certainly some evidence to support this view. Most commentators on the topic estimate super-fast broadband could add as much as £19bn to the British economy, creating anywhere from 60,000 to 600,000 new jobs. Jeremy Hunt, the new Culture Secretary, has of course earlier this month identified next-generation broadband as integral to the UK economy, and recently said the UK has so far failed to capitalise on the digital economy.
The UK is currently ranked 33rd in the world in terms of average broadband speed, with average speeds five times slower than those in South Korea. The new government has said this is unacceptable, and part of the reason for creative companies locating overseas.
I am not totally convinced by this argument – and I don’t see that much need for super-fast broadband if its main use is to download porn quicker, frankly. But any upgrade to our national working infrastructure is welcome, be that physical transport as much as our own Information Superhighway.
Which we’ll want to look more like the M25 when it opened than the M1 does now, to be sure.
