UK government lowers gigabit broadband target to 85 per cent by 2025

Rollback from 100 per cent coverage seen as a blow to rural areas

The UK government's ambitious plan to get gigabit-speed broadband to every home by 2025 has been rolled back, as part of the spending review by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The government has changed the goal from 100 per cent to a "minimum of 85 per cent coverage" by 2025.

The overall budget for the planned rollout was not touched, remaining at £5 billion, although only £1.2 billion of the budget will be made available up until 2024.

"The government is working with industry to target a minimum of 85pc gigabit-capable coverage by 2025, but will seek to accelerate rollout further to get as close to 100pc as possible," states the government's National Infrastructure Strategy document [pdf] that was published on Wednesday alongside the Spending Review [pdf].

Getting gigabit broadband to every home in the UK by 2025 was a major electoral pledge from Boris Johnson back in 2019.

The UK government had originally set a goal of 2033 for the rollout of fibre to all premises, which Johnson described as "laughably unambitious" target, and after being elected Johnson set the new deadline of 2025 to achieve the broadband goal.

"We're going to build broadband, railway, roads - if the country needs it, we will build it. Today's Budget provides £5 billion to get gigabit-capable broadband into the hardest to reach places," Rishi Sunak said in his Budget speech to the House of Commons in March this year.

But, in September, BT warned that the government's target to achieve nationwide roll-out of full-fibre broadband by 2025 could be missed by eight years unless the government announced sweeping reforms and regulatory changes for the sector. BT said that it had identified seven key policy, legislative and fiscal enablers that could allow the industry to provide full-fibre broadband up to 96 per cent of all UK homes and businesses by 2025 and 100 per cent by 2027.

And in May, a government official said a ban on Huawei equipment would delay the planned modernisation of the UK ' s mobile networks and invalidate the government's 2025 'full-fibre broadband for all' promise.

The government, though, has been forced to undertake the spending review to reassess the financial situation due to unforeseen spending on Covid-19 pandemic.

Sunak said on Wednesday that the government's immediate priority is "to protect people's lives and livelihoods".

Industry experts are unhappy with the government's decision, however, and some voiced concerns that the remotest areas of the country will now be neglected to save the funds.

Trade body the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) described the roll back as "a blow to rural communities".

ISPA said that it was also disappointed to see that the government would allocate only a quarter of its committed spending on broadband over the next four years.

"Today's announcement indicates to us that the government will be relying more heavily on private investment into the country's full fibre infrastructure over the next few years," said Graeme Oxby, CEO of London based full-fibre internet provider, Community Fibre.

"Irrespective of the government's plans, the private sector investment is already in place for London's properties to be 100 per cent full fibre enabled by 2025. However, the target is only achievable if London's landlords grant the necessary permissions needed to bring full fibre to their properties."

UK operators are expected to achieve about 70 per cent coverage by 2025 even without government funding.

Most of the progress is expected to come from Virgin Media, which is currently in the process of upgrading its existing network to be gigabit-capable. The upgraded service is expected to reach about 16 million homes, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the UK population.