UK government scales back gigabit broadband target to 85% of premises by 2025
The UK government has scaled back its previously ambitious target to deliver gigabit broadband to all homes and businesses across the UK by 2025.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport confirmed on Tuesday that it was now planning to bring ultrafast services to 85% of the country by the middle of the decade.
Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended the move during a trip to Dorset where the government’s £5bn Project Gigabit will begin in earnest.
The southwest county has received a £6m contract for the rollout of gigabit broadband to 7,000 hard-to-reach premises by 2025.
Similar work in several other areas, including Cambridge, Cornwall and Cumbria, will also begin before the end of the year.
Johnson said that he was “very proud” that the government had been able to increase the percentage of households accessing gigabit broadband from 7% to 70% during his tenure.
He added: “From Sherbourne to Stirling, lightning-fast broadband is levelling up towns and villages across the country.”
However, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said that the decision to row back on its 100% target was another indication of how the ruling party has “mastered the art of broken promises”.
While the government’s aims are not as ambitious as they once were, thousands more homes and businesses will soon be able to connect to broadband speeds of 1,000Mbps.
This is around 30 times faster than the slower broadband delivered via copper connections, which are served to 97% of premises.
In the last five months, one million premises have already been connected to gigabit networks.
Work on the new phase will begin in Dorset in the early autumn.