UK government allocates funds to boost fiber deployments

In addition to fiber funding, the government is urging private operators to contribute to the Digital Infrastructure Fund

The U.K. government plans to provide $500 million for a new Digital Infrastructure Fund for the development of fiber infrastructure across the United Kingdom. The announcement is expected to be made by the government during its autumn budget statement.

According to press reports, the government will ask private investors to invest a similar amount of money in this initiative. Government leaders are looking to boost deployments of fiber-to-the premise rather than fiber-to-the-cabinet. Currently only 2% of homes in the U.K. have access to high-speed broadband connections.

“The U.K. is already a world leader in superfast broadband coverage, but the country is falling behind on the roll out of full-fiber,” the U.K. government said in a statement.

The government also said it aims to target emerging broadband providers in a move to encourage coverage expansion across the U.K. Some small operators currently deploying infrastructure include CityFibre, Gigaclear and Hyperoptic.

The government is also expected to provide nearly $920 million to local councils to fund trials of “5G” technology and the roll out of ancillary infrastructure, including further fiber deployments.

“Vodafone U.K. welcomes the government’s plans for ‘full fiber’ deployment to homes and businesses rather than BT’s interim measure of fiber to the cabinet coupled with much slower and less reliable copper line G.Fast technology,” the telco said in a statement.

The operator said independent research commissioned by Vodafone predicts that under BT’s current plans, G.Fast will increase U.K. ultrafast household coverage by less than 5%. The research, produced by Point Topic, also states that unless action is taken, only 6.5% of U.K. households can expect to receive gigabit-capable connectivity by 2020.

“We welcome the government’s move to focus on providing full fiber and we call upon BT to be upfront with the British public about its roll out plans and acknowledge that G.Fast will do nothing to help those stranded on archaic and woefully inadequate broadband today,” said Helen Lamprell, director of external affairs at Vodafone U.K. “BT is pushing a muddled compromise rooted in the past, while the rest of the world is focused on building the gigabit society at light speed over fiber.”