The Government has confirmed that universal high speed broadband
will be delivered by a regulatory Universal Service Obligation
(USO), giving everyone in the UK access to speeds of at least 10
Mbps by 2020.
This is the speed that Ofcom, the independent regulator, says is
needed to meet the requirements of an average family. After
careful consideration the government has decided that regulation
is the best way of making sure everyone in the UK can get a
decent broadband connection of at least 10 Mbps as soon as
possible.
Following the creation of new powers when the Government passed
the Digital Economy Act 2017, we launched our consultation on the
design of the regulatory USO in the summer. The Government will
now set out the design for a legal right to high speed broadband
in secondary legislation early next year, alongside our detailed
response to the consultation.
Ofcom’s implementation is expected to take two years from when we
lay secondary legislation, meeting the Government’s commitment of
giving everyone access to high speed broadband by 2020.
In the summer, we received a proposal from BT to deliver
universal broadband through a voluntary agreement. We welcomed
BT’s proposal and have considered this in detail alongside a
regulatory approach. We did not feel the proposal was strong
enough for us to take the regulatory USO off the table, and have
therefore decided not to pursue BT’s proposal in favour of
providing a legal right to broadband.
The government believes that only a regulatory USO offers
sufficient certainty and the legal enforceability that is
required to ensure high speed broadband access for the whole of
the UK by 2020. However, we welcome BT’s continued investment to
deliver broadband to all parts of the UK.
Culture Secretary said:
We know how important broadband is to homes and businesses and
we want everyone to benefit from a fast and reliable
connection. We are grateful to BT for their proposal but have
decided that only a regulatory approach will make high speed
broadband a reality for everyone in the UK, regardless of where
they live or work.
This is all part of our work on ensuring that Britain’s
telecoms infrastructure is fit for the future and will continue
to deliver the connectivity that consumers need in the digital
age.
This regulatory approach also brings a number of other advantages
for the consumer:
- the minimum speed of connection can be increased over time as
consumers’ connectivity requirements evolve;
- it provides for greater enforcement to help ensure households
and businesses do get connected
- the scheme will maximise the provision of fixed line
connections in the hardest to reach areas.
- places a legal requirement for high speed broadband to be
provided to anyone requesting it, subject to a cost threshold (in
the same way the universal service right to a landline telephone
works)
