Ofcom given affordable 10mbps broadband deadline

The government has announced a final deadline for implementing rules that will make superfast broadband available to all homes and businesses in the UK by 2020, according to reports this week.

Connectivity regulator Ofcom has been given a date as part of a universal service obligation (USO) to give all UK citizens the right to an affordable broadband connection with a speed of at least 10Mbps in the next two years.

The government said the USO was the only way to ensure that superfast internet could be made available with “sufficient certainty and legal enforceability” by 2020.

The agreement means that consumers and businesses in the UK will have the legal right to demand a fast broadband connection from a “designated provider” - no matter where in the country they live or work.

It also mandates a “reasonable cost threshold” for such services - the USO specifies that the cost for each premises should not exceed £3,400 – and confirms that minimum speed requirements will be reviewed and increased over time.

According to Ofcom’s own report – titled “Connected Nations 2017” – 4 per cent of the UK’s homes and businesses lack a broadband connection with at least a 10Mbps download speed, down from 6 per cent in 2016.

The regulator and the government will now work together to put together a list of universal service providers that will be invited to tender for new roll-outs. The USO mandates that small providers are given an opportunity to bid alongside larger ones.

BT has already lobbied to be designated as the only service provider for the USO in a project that would have cost the telecoms giant between £450 million and £600 million. Though culture secretary Karen Bradley claimed the government had “warmly welcomed” the offer, it was rejected by Whitehall in December last year.