10 Jan 2023
Telecoms and smart city management consulting firm Intelligens Consulting has published thought leadership research that presents the best performing council areas by fibre availability across the four nations including in London.
The research was undertaken based on Think Broadband’s January 2023 data and it provides a thorough assessment of areas with the greatest availability of full fibre broadband and those areas where fibre availability has increased the most rapidly.
Intelligens Consulting CEO and Consulting Director Iqbal Singh Bedi said, “Institutional Private investment in full fibre broadband has increased significantly over the last 5 years to reach unprecedented levels.”
This research is particularly important for several reasons. It shows areas that have benefited from that investment and those which have not, and therefore need to consider alternative interventions to encourage private investment in full fibre.
Telecoms expert Bedi said, “In 2020, Intelligens Consulting pioneered a landmark fibre intervention in Renfrewshire which has helped the region accelerate to third place with 69 percent fibre availability. This is up from 47 percent in June 2022 making it Scotland’s second highest performing region, increasing its full fibre availability by 22 percent in only six months.”
Full fibre is particularly relevant to government policy. In 2019, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson committed GBP 5 billion of public funding to have gigabit available to every home by 2030. The pandemic has shown our dependence upon high-quality and high-speed broadband to learn, socialise and work from home.
In addition the UK has been at the bottom of the full fibre charts when compared with its European counterparts.
This research shows that good progress is now being made. In the last six months full fibre availability has increased from 33% to 41% of home with access to full fibre broadband services.
The analysis demonstrated that the greatest gains in full fibre availability have been in England. Bedi says, “The extraordinary levels of private investment and alternative network (altnet) start-ups building fibre networks in England is a key reason for this”.
Although full fibre availability in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London has increased it hasn’t matched the pace of growth in England.
The consultants awarded Eastbourne Council the coveted Gold Star for the region with the greatest gain in fibre availability since June 2022.
The article and infographic summary can be accessed here: https://www.intelligensconsulting.com/post/article-2023-state-of-fibre-update
