The new Chancellor of the Labour Government, Rachel Reeves MP, has today announced her first Autumn 2024 Budget and confirmed that she would commit “over £500m of funding next year” for “improving reliable fast broadband and mobile coverage across our country, including in rural areas“.
Just to recap. The previous Government had two headline investment programmes for improving broadband and mobile. The first one was the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, which aims to boost geographic 4G mobile coverage to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025.
The second was the £5bn Project Gigabit scheme (around £2bn of this has yet to be used), which succeeded in making 1Gbps+ broadband speeds available to at least 85% of UK premises and now aims to deliver “nationwide” (c.99%) coverage by 2030. In addition, they also set a target for “all populated areas to be covered by a ‘standalone’ 5G (5G-plus) [network] by 2030“ (here).
Since the last budget we’ve had a change of Government and the new Labour-led administration has broadly continued to support those programmes by making a “renewed push to fulfil the ambition of full gigabit and national 5G coverage by 2030” (here). But so far, most of their announcements have largely just taken credit for contracts and changes that were already in the works before they came to power (example here, here and here).
The exception has been the new push to reform planning laws (here and here), which may or may not produce a clear benefit for digital network builders (details have yet to be fully revealed). Suffice to say that all eyes were on today’s autumn 2024 budget to see what sort of changes, if any, the new government might make on the telecoms and digital infrastructure front.
Rachel Reeves MP, UK Chancellor, said:
“With over £500 million of funding next year, my right honourable friend for science, technology and innovation secretary will continue to drive progress in improving reliable fast broadband and mobile coverage across our country, including in rural areas.”
At the time of writing, the official budget documents have yet to be published, which means that we don’t yet have the details on what this actually reflects. But on the surface, it sounds a lot like the level of spending that we would have expected to see under the previously committed funding via Project Gigabit and the SRN. However, it’s frustrating when vague terms like “fast broadband“, instead of “gigabit broadband“, are used, which leaves the gate open to speculation about differing performance targets.
UPDATE 2:06pm
The Autumn 2024 Budget Document has now been published, which merely echoes the above statement by saying, with a stronger definition, that the government will be: “Investing over £500 million in 2025-26 to deliver Project Gigabit and Shared Rural Network to drive the rollout of digital infrastructure to underserved parts of the UK, including delivering full gigabit broadband coverage by 2030.”
The assumption is that we will see a similar figure being committed in the next budget too, although there does remain a lack of clarity over whether the new government intend to fully harness all of the original budget committed to Project Gigabit (prior to today’s budget, there was about £2bn left to be committed, now £1.5bn after today’s £500m pledge).
UPDATE 4:54pm
We’ve added a comment from the UK Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) below.
Andrew Kernahan, Head of Public Affairs, ISPA UK, said:
“Broadband rollout has been a UK success story in recent years, with gigabit-speed coverage available across 85% of the country, alongside 70% full-fibre availability. Primarily driven by billions of pounds of private investment from a range of operators in recent years, government investment has nonetheless been crucial in accelerating this programme.
We welcome today’s news from the Chancellor that £500m of public investment will continue to fund underserved areas in the next year, helping communities experience the transformative benefits of gigabit broadband. The original funding for Project Gigabit was up to £5bn, and there is around £2bn yet to be spent – it is important that the government continues to commit to future funding to meet its target of full gigabit broadband coverage by 2030.”
UPDATE 31st Oct 2024 @ 7:25am
We’ve also had a comment from Freedom Fibre.
Nathan Vautier, CEO of Freedom Fibre, said:
“Freedom Fibre welcomes the Chancellor’s announcement to free up budget for vital infrastructure spending.
Geography should not be a defining factor in the continued rollout of Gigabit full-fibre broadband across the UK. Not only does it help to future-proof local communities for decades to come, but it also ensures that equality of opportunity is available to all, especially those in rural areas.
Access to faster broadband helps to promote long-term economic growth and boosts our local economies. This long-term economic security is crucial to ensuring that no part of the country is left behind.
The rollout of Gigabit full-fibre represents one of the largest and arguably one of the most important infrastructure projects currently in the UK, of which Freedom Fibre is proud to be part of.”