The UK Fires Up Full Fiber—and Not a Moment Too Soon
STL is a Business Reporter client.
Successive governments in Britain have made a lot of noise about prioritizing broadband access, but the movement has lately gained great momentum. As recently as 2019, up to one-third of all UK homes were in so-called “not spot” areas where internet access was limited. Now, as a government initiative aims to connect 85% of households to 1 Gbps-capable broadband by 2025, such rapid developments have arrived not a moment too soon.
The blight of “not spots” has been a strange contradiction for a country that boasts great technological prowess. Over the past few years, the UK has inarguably maintained a formidable reputation for R&D, science and technology, and an innovative startup scene.
However, many of these UK ecosystems have been concentrated in certain areas, such as the South East, London and other major cities. Full-fiber broadband, though, promises to unlock the whole country’s digital potential, as more than 1 million hard-to-reach homes and businesses will be connected by next-generation gigabit broadband in the first phase of a £5 billion government infrastructure project.
The implications are enormous. As two years of restrictions to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic have shown, digitalization is the only way that today’s businesses can build a competitive edge, and these infrastructure projects are the essential backbone of enabling that digital-first mindset.
Already, 8 million UK homes are connected with full-fiber broadband, with an impressive 750,000 new homes moving to the service in 2021 alone. However, some barriers remain, and, perhaps surprisingly, one of them is consumer awareness. Although household data usage continues to trend upwards, fewer than 2 million of these homes were taking full advantage of the fiber services last year.
But to realize the full potential of these digital inclusion programs, it’s absolutely critical that households and businesses take advantage.
Digital networks will shape everything from GDP and industry momentum to inclusion and equal opportunity. As a society, the UK needs to invest in developing fiber-powered broadband highways that reach every corner of the country and the rest of the world. The digital sector contributes £149 billion to the UK economy and currently employs 2.9 million people. Improving global infrastructure could add $13 trillion to global GDP by 2030, transforming billions of lives in the process.
As 5G adoption grows, the rollout of this next-generation mobile networking technology is expected to bring about wider benefits. It’s crucial that the full-fiber rollout continues without delay, because a strong optical fiber architecture is what provides the high capacity and bandwidth necessary for functional 5G networks. To handle this volume of data, service providers are upgrading their backhaul networks with fiber technology to truly deliver on offering virtually unlimited bandwidth to their customers.
At the same time, there’s movement toward open, disaggregated, programmable networks, with agreement on standards and an open blueprint for networking equipment. This is another essential component to shift Britain away from reliance on proprietary, closed ecosystems that stifle innovation.
That’s why technology initiatives, such as the UK government’s backing of a £1 million high-tech lab to accelerate adoption of Open RAN, and the push for industry standards for telecom equipment, are so important.
Looking forward, Britain has also launched a £30 million R&D funding competition to accelerate Open RAN adoption and ensure that the country is positioned as a leader of next-generation connectivity—the beating heart of a modern, digital economy.
With its heart and digital initiatives in the right place, the UK is firing up full fiber—exactly at the right time.
STL is an industry-leading integrator of digital networks that enables telcos, cloud companies, citizen networks and large enterprises to deliver enhanced experiences to their customers. Visit stl.tech.
— Ankit Agarwal, Managing Director, STL
This article originally appeared in Business Reporter. Header Image Credit: iStock id169075459
