UK Plans for Full Fibre Broadband and 5G Networks

23rd July 2018 Dominic Whitlock

The UK Government has released plans to provide most of the nation with full fibre broadband and a 5G mobile network by the year 2030.

Last year, the government announced a new industrial strategy, seeking to grow and compete with the rest of Europe on broadband speeds and coverage. However, the UK still remains very far behind the market leaders.

Portugal has 89% full fibre connections, while Spain has 71%. The UK does not come even close to this with just 4%.

The plans, which were listed in the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, are that full fiber broadband will reach 15 million premises by 2025. Furthermore, they want 5G networks to reach most of the country.

The switch over to full fibre is pencilled in for 2030.

Jeremy Wright, the new Secretary of State for digital, culture, media and sport, told TechCrunch: “We want everyone in the UK to benefit from world-class connectivity no matter where they live, work or travel.

“[The strategy] will increase competition and investment in full fiber broadband, create more commercial opportunities and make it easier and cheaper to roll out infrastructure for 5G.”

There are cost and time-saving measures in place already. The government claims to have identified existing infrastructure, such as sewers, that should be easy to access and convert.

Also, they are planning an industry-led switch to full fibre, meaning that businesses will avoid the added expense of running fibre and copper networks at the same time.