Government wants “gigabit-capable” broadband across UK by 2030
The UK government wants to deliver “gigabit-capable” broadband and 4G and 5G mobile coverage to every part of the country by 2030 as part of its latest ‘Levelling Up’ programme.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last week that the government’s “vision for the future” is centred on the availability of high-quality, fast broadband and mobile data connections in every community.
To that end, the £5bn Project Gigabit programme will aim to deliver strong coverage to hard-to-reach locations and rural areas throughout the decade.
The project is expected to use commercial deployments for the vast majority of coverage, with Virgin Media and Openreach among the networks that will support the infrastructure.
The signal of commitment to faster speeds is encouraging for homeowners and businesses considering that the government had previously only aimed to get to “as close to 100%” coverage as possible.
Responding to the news, Hyperoptic CEO Dana Tobak said that they are looking forward to helping the government achieve its aims, while TalkTalk CEO Tristia Harrison said that they are “passionate” about making full fibre available for all.
Johnson outlined 12 missions to level up the UK last week and gigabit broadband was fourth on the agenda alongside bringing 4G and 5G to the whole of the UK.
There is a slight caveat, with faster 5G only set to be rolled out for “the majority of the population”, but further investment should increase the quality of mobile service in the coming years.
Johnson said that better broadband would be among the ambitious changes that can help to “deliver for the people of the UK”.