Truss Gives Broadband Top Billing

Written By Guest User

The New Prime Minister has Flagged that Building Infrastructure, including Broadband, will be a High Priority.

Elizabeth Truss became Prime Minister on the 6th of September 2022. Broadband was listed as one of her top priorities in her first speech outside 10 Downing Street: ‘We will make sure we build hospitals, schools, roads and broadband’.

The Prime Minister’s interest in the telecommunications sector predates her entry into politics. Truss spent five years at Cable & Wireless as Economics Director. Cable & Wireless were a key competitor of BT, becoming the first company in the UK to offer an alternative phone service. In her role as MP of South-West Norfolk, Truss suggested that the importance of increased connectivity had stuck with her. Delivering a speech in February 2015 she stated, ‘it is great to see rural Britain getting wired up and fired up as we continue to roll superfast broadband out to the countryside’.

However, Elizabeth Truss has not previously worked within the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport and therefore we are yet to gain insight into her digital ideology. Furthermore, unlike her predecessor, the Prime Minister has not set out a clear plan of action for improving broadband services. Indeed, technology writer Mark Jackson observed that ‘in her opening speech [Truss] didn’t even define what kind of broadband (gigabit or otherwise) she was talking about’ [1].

Why Is This Controversial?

Boris Johnson’s target, detailed in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto, ‘to provide full fibre and gigabit-capable broadband to every home and business across the UK by 2025’, has proved unrealistic. In July of this year, the target was reduced to 85% coverage [2].

Furthermore, the former Prime Minister’s 2019 ‘commitment to being a world leader in 5G, with a majority of the population covered by 2027’ has proved unaspiring [3]. Of the four largest 5G providers in the UK (EE, Three, Vodafone, O2) only one (Three) boasts 56% coverage as of 19th of July 2022 [4].

Finally, only £1.2 billion of the £5 billion promised as part of Project Gigabit, a government infrastructure project to enable and deliver fast and reliable digital connectivity across the country, has been spent [1].

In light of this, some might insist that Liz Truss’ commitment to ‘build roads, homes and broadband faster’ is destined for failure.

A Way Forward

However, we should not underestimate the potential of the options available to our new Prime Minister.

Truss can utilise existing legislation, including the Product, Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill, to simplify the process of upgrading and sharing infrastructure for broadband and mobile operators. Similarly, the ongoing updates to the Electronic Communications Code will enable operators to find cheaper alternatives for building new digital networks.

There is also speculation as to whether Rishi Sunak’s initiative, coined Super Deduction, which includes tax relief on infrastructure investment, will continue. James Robinson, a Senior Analyst at Assembly, emphasised the importance of Super Deduction, insisting ‘going beyond today’s 70% gigabit broadband coverage [without it] would get that bit harder’ [1].

The Government have also indicated that they will resolve the shortage of skilled fibre engineers in the UK through a fast-track scheme: ‘we are supporting broadband companies to source the essential skilled workers they urgently need’.[1] The fast-track scheme will grant European fibre engineers ‘extraordinary status’, to allow them to work in the UK. The UK had previously relied upon the European Union to satisfy the shortage of skilled engineers. However, since Britain’s departure from the EU, the CEO of Openreach, Clive Selley notes that ‘the process is tortuous… we are constraining the rate of fibre build in the UK through the process [5].

However, despite Clive Selley’s description of the process as ‘tortuous’, the UK remains one of the fastest in the world for new deployments of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure, measuring an annual FTTP growth rate of 80% in 2022 [6]. For example, CityFibre’s gigabit-capable FTTP broadband ISP network has seen its coverage reach 2 million premises across the UK [7].

Conclusion

Truss’ decision to reference broadband in her first speech bodes well for the future. If she keeps her word and makes high-speed connectivity a priority, that is likely to be a good thing for the UK telecoms industry and its customers.

The Prime Minister’s plan to ‘build roads, homes and broadband faster’ will need to be supported [8]. Deecon has extensive experience in fibre and mobile telecommunications, having led many projects across the telecoms sector. Please explore our case studies to find out more about the projects we’ve been involved in and if you think your organisation could benefit from Deecon’s expertise please get in touch.

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