The UK has become the fastest growing market in Europe for high-speed, fibre optic internet, with providers having connected 4.2 million new homes in the year ended September 2024.
Despite this, the final phase of connectivity remains a difficult challenge as the UK looks to extend high-speed internet coverage to the estimated remaining five million “hardest to reach premises”, according to new research.
A new report from the Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA UK) has found that the vast majority (78%) of the public support upgrading telecoms infrastructure to provide high-speed internet across the whole of the UK, with respondents to its survey only listing supermarkets as a higher daily priority than broadband.
The government has been pressing ahead with this goal through Project Gigabit, a scheme to extend high-speed internet to rural and difficult to reach areas.
For the most part, progress has been solid, with 84% of residential and commercial properties now able to access gigabit-capable broadband and 74% full-fibre broadband.
But finishing the job is proving troublesome, according to the report, in part due to the particularly difficult to reach premises in mostly rural areas.
The report also notes that “the current political and economic environment makes raising additional capital to carry out this essential work increasingly difficult”.
Despite the challenges, public support remains strong, with the wider rollout of high-speed internet being viewed not only as a public good, but economically essential for an increasingly digital world.
ISPA UK has therefore called on the government to reaffirm its commitment to supporting the rollout of future-proof digital infrastructure via Project Gigabit and to connect more homes and businesses to gigabit-capable broadband to reach government’s target of 99% of UK premises by 2032.
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