Update: The National Scene
Dec 23, 2020The previous 100% Gigabit (pure fibre) target by 2025 was always going to be a big (impossible?) ask. Following the recent spending review, this has been scaled back to ‘aiming for’ 85% coverage while only allocating £1.2bn of the promised £5bn before 2025.
The good news amongst this for those in ‘not spots’ is that BDUK, which controls the allocation of public funds for developing the network, is saying it will aim to target its Gigabit roll-out to properties with less than 30 Mbps speed. The current prediction is that by 2025 there’ll be about 75% Gigabit coverage nationally but this may well be higher depending on how BDUK performs.
The current Rural Gigabit Voucher Scheme closes to new applicants on the 31st March 2021 so the log jam in the costing department of Openreach is causing some concern as some projects may not be agreed before this deadline. There is almost certainly going to be a successor voucher scheme announced but it’s not known if it will be as generous as the one currently operating.