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Announcements => News Articles => Topic started by: gt94sss2 on September 29, 2019, 02:52:34 AM

Title: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: gt94sss2 on September 29, 2019, 02:52:34 AM
Quote
Boris Johnson is poised to reveal a broadband subsidy of as much as £5bn in an attempt to deliver his pledge of a complete national upgrade in just a few years.

The massive cheque is likely to be unveiled at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester this week, according to industry and Westminster sources, who last night cautioned that the schedule could still change.

The taxpayer funding will be aimed at the most sparsely populated rural areas, many of them Tory heartlands.

From https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/09/28/boris-johnson-reveals-5bn-broadband-bonanza/
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: Alex Atkin UK on September 29, 2019, 04:27:25 AM
Kinda pointless as if we continue with austerity, nobody will be able to afford broadband!
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: gt94sss2 on September 29, 2019, 04:45:29 PM
Apart from the fact that I think austerity is officially over, if you used your approach, then BDUK shouldn't exist either.
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: tiffy on September 29, 2019, 05:52:39 PM
Wonder if there will be any definitive indication as to where the money for any proposed funding will come from ?
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: Chrysalis on September 29, 2019, 07:09:02 PM
VDSL all over again where rural gets before urban?
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: sevenlayermuddle on September 29, 2019, 08:32:50 PM
VDSL all over again where rural gets before urban?

Can’t speak for VDSL in general as that is only available here as part of a fibre offering.   But we are a rural area, officially classed as a hamlet rather than a village, and I can promise you we were among the last to get Fibre (FTTC).  Pretty much an afterthought, in fact.
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: Alex Atkin UK on September 29, 2019, 10:53:00 PM
Apart from the fact that I think austerity is officially over, if you used your approach, then BDUK shouldn't exist either.

What makes you think austerity is over? https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/speakers-at-tory-fringe-meeting-say-government-cut-have-not-gone-far-enough

As for broadband funding then sure it should exist, I just wouldn't trust THIS government to deliver it!
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: Ronski on September 30, 2019, 06:10:55 AM
I certainly wouldn't trust the others either.
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: gt94sss2 on September 30, 2019, 11:00:07 AM
What makes you think austerity is over?

I am trying to avoid a political debate - after all, it will be the same civil servants implementing the policy regardless of what political party is in power.

More generally, it’s always important to consider how biased a news source is when reading it and a) yours will take a particular viewpoint and b) fringe events for any party don’t equal official policy which would come from ministers or the shadow cabinet like https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49577250

Back to the broadband issues, ISPReview is reporting:

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UPDATE 30th September 2019 – 7:31am

The £5bn pledge has been confirmed, although we’ve tweaked the language above a little because this funding is now also said to include 5G mobile services, alongside full fibre and Virgin Media’s coax, under the “gigabit-capable” box. Nicky Morgan MP said: “We want everyone in the UK to benefit from world-class gigabit connectivity no matter where they live or work, so today @Conservatives are announcing £5bn to ensure our rural communities benefit too.”

The inclusion of 5G is a tricky one because mobile broadband performance is highly variable and while some may eventually get 1Gbps or more, others on 5G won’t even come close.. at not least for awhile (e.g. particularly those in rural areas where lower frequency mobile bands tend to be more common due to the focus on maximising coverage).

Sajid Javid MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, will say:

“Investment in our infrastructure will be key to making the next decade one of renewal – boosting our economy and making life easier for people all across the country.

This new multi-billion pound investment to deliver gigabit-capable broadband for all the UK and investment in roads and buses will help people to get around and businesses to grow, ensuring no community is left behind.

This will make the UK a better place to live and work, extending opportunity and raising living standards for all.”

Apparently the new funding will be used to help those in the final 20% of premises, rather than just the final 10%. The proposed £5bn is all new money, which means that it is in addition to the existing investments for full fibre (no mention of if this includes existing 5G investment). “This is in addition to the £650 million we have already invested in fibre rollout in the three years to 2021, where we are prioritising rural areas,” added Nicky Morgan.
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: Chrysalis on September 30, 2019, 01:52:33 PM
Can’t speak for VDSL in general as that is only available here as part of a fibre offering.   But we are a rural area, officially classed as a hamlet rather than a village, and I can promise you we were among the last to get Fibre (FTTC).  Pretty much an afterthought, in fact.

Well yeah I didnt mean every single rural area was ahead of every single urban area, but a lot of the first VDSL areas were not urban.  In my county villages got it before the city.  The city only got it when my MP stepped in.  I was surprised to read only 2 months ago that part of my city is still ADSL only, with spotty cable coverage, as you can imagine that spotty cable coverage is really congested as well from reports, as it has only ADSL as its competition.

What I have observed so far on FTTP, is its not the same as VDSL, the biggest UK cities have been announced in early plans, but what I see as a potential problem is smaller cities and towns get left out commercially as they not big enough, but at the same time they also left out of government programs because those focus on rural.

So for me I would like to see the government concentrate on non commercially viable areas rather than specifically rural as there is non commercially viable urban/suburban areas as well.
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: Weaver on September 30, 2019, 03:46:59 PM
@chrys - agreed. I have read some shocking things about notspots in London including some in the most unlikely-sounding places
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: kitz on October 01, 2019, 10:23:52 AM
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but what I see as a potential problem is smaller cities and towns get left out commercially as they not big enough, but at the same time they also left out of government programs because those focus on rural.

^This ^

What makes it even worse is that many (if not most) of those same areas will have been Openreach's phase 3 onwards which had FTTC implemented in the period 2012-2014. 

The vast majority of cabs installed during that time were ECI, so already they get poorer performance than those on the Huawei cabs.   Whilst Openreach hasn't implemented vectoring on the early Huaweis like those on BDUK in the more rural areas get, at least they do have G.INP and 'x'dB.    Those last 2 technologies alone can boost performance by 10Mbps or more...  easily so when pitted against interleaving.   

Even though my line isn't interleaved (and I have to watch it like a hawk to make sure it doesn't due to a weird SHINE effect) xdB would give me a nice speed boost taking me back up to somewhere around 80Mbps. 
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: dee.jay on October 01, 2019, 11:37:38 AM
What about in the cases where those small towns have had new builds that *do* now have FTTP?

April 2012 our FTTC cabinet went live, I remember as it was about the time Sky launched FTTC, I was probably one of the first to get it.

Not far from my house there is a new estate and every address comes up with the 1000 FTTP only - no FTTC or anything else available.

Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: j0hn on October 01, 2019, 12:38:26 PM
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What about in the cases where those small towns have had new builds that *do* now have FTTP?

What about them?

There being FTTP nearby usually has no relevance to a future OpenReach FTTP rollout.

A nearby new build FTTP development more than likely gets its fibre from the same Agg Node as the local FTTC cabinet.

In the vast majority of OpenReach's FTTP rollout the fibre will come all the way from the Agg Node that's already serving FTTC cabinets.

In most cases FTTP being nearby won't make it cheaper, quicker or easier to extend FTTP to surrounding areas.
None of the kit in the new development would be used, unless it's a huge new development that required its own Agg Node.
Even then that would only change the direction fibre would come from.
Title: Re: Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza
Post by: dee.jay on October 01, 2019, 12:55:21 PM
What about them?

/sigh, that's why I asked.