£440m to be reinvested in rolling-out superfast broadband to 600,000 extra homes
Government announced yesterday that £440m will be reinvested in deploying superfast broadband connections to 600,000 extra premises. The cash boost is a result of efficiency savings (£150m) and the BDUK clawback mechanism (reinvestment of subsidies when people take up superfast connections covered by the programme – meaning that BT will be releasing £292m).
More than 4.5 million premises have now been provided with access to a superfast (24Mbit/s) broadband connection under the BDUK programme, which is a publicly funded project (£1.7bn) designed to complement private sector investment in the deployment of superfast broadband (24Mbit/s), with the aim to reach over 95% of UK premises by the end of 2017.
Last week, Ofcom published its Connected Nations report and technical advice to Government on the design of the broadband Universal Service Obligation. According to Ofcom, 12% premises (3.5million) do not currently have access to superfast broadband connections (30Mbit/s). Ofcom estimates that the figure will decrease to 4% (1.1m) in early 2020.
It is estimated that superfast broadband coverage has currently reached around 91% of premises and that 1.5 million homes and businesses have taken up superfast connections in BDUK areas. This £440m reinvestment means that 97% of UK premises could be reached by 2020 with a superfast connection.