Podcast: Britain's battle for full fibre broadband

The British government has said that the UK requires 15 million fibre to the home (FTTH) connections by the mid-2020s in order to safeguard its digital economy in the post-Brexit era.

However, with FTTH penetration levels hovering around the 5 per cent mark, the country has much to do if it is to catch up with its European neighbours, many of whom are well on the way to achieving 50 per cent full fibre penetration.

In the first edition of the Total Telecom podcast, we speak to some of the industry's foremost players about the challenges and opportunities for operators, altnet providers and regional governments, as the country looks to dramatically increase FTTH availability.

"We have a situation in the UK where the incumbents were focussed on incremental fibre to the cabinet upgrades with a realisation increasingly now by the regulator and government that the consequence of that strategy is leaving us well behind in terms of full fibre connectivity," said Benoit Felton, analyst at Defraction Analysis.  

While demand for FTTH services from the British government and British industry is clear to see, some analysts have raised concerns that domestic consumers may not be prepared to pay enough of a premium to fast-track FTTH rollout across the country.  

"Yes, FTTP might be slightly more expensive but actually it provides more benefits for customers. They get greater speeds and there is just more that they can do with it. So actually, I think there is going to be a very competitive market out there and that will help the end customer," said Katie Milligan, MD for Customer, Commercial and Propositions at Openreach.

You can listen to Total Telecom's monthly podcast by clicking on the links below. Subscribe now to make sure you are the first to receive the next instalment.  

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