Initial fibre optic rollout done before the Olympics start?

BT have announced that their fibre-optic broadband trials have been successful, and as a result they have announced that they will complete their roll-out of fibre-optic broadband by 2012, a year ahead of schedule and just before the start of the London Olympics.  BT plans on spending £1.5 billion (€1.68 billion) on this upgrade for 40% of all urban areas, and these roll-outs will involve both FTTP (fibre to the premises) and FTTK/FTTC (fibre to the kerb). 

Virgin Media, BT's main competitor, can already provide high speed broadband with speeds up to 50 Mb/s, and Virgin Media plan on upgrading to 150 Mb/s by 2010, two years before BT's own upgrade is complete.  And other rollouts of FTTH via the sewers (which is really cost-effective) are being done by the likes of i3 Group (formerly H2O Networks), and the i3 Group say they can minimise homes sharing a single fibre optic network at the same time, as explained in their response to the OFCOM report on Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON).

The importance of fibre optic broadband, especially FTTH, is such that it needs to be done as soon as possible, as we called for in our previous article.  It is well known that the UK is already lagging behind other nations, and a long way behind South Korea who are already aiming for universal broadband with a minimum speed of 1Gb/s.  

To fund the upgrade to fibre optic broadband in the UK, the government is planning a £0.50 levy per line on copper lines, and a £6 broadband tax, all before the general election, a tax the opposition Conservatives pledge to scrap if elected. The broadband tax is controversial judging by this article.

In an interview with the Financial Times, BT CEO Ian Livingston expressed concern about whether the politicians are committed to the upgrade, and has said that "full coverage to every home in the UK will not be possible without public sector support" (i.e. government subsidies) - and called for politicians to "clarify their commitment to next-gen broadband", and has said that "governments around the world are proactively supporting industry in this".

The government definitely must support the operators including the likes of BT, Virgin Media, H20 Networks, and whoever is laying the fibre optic cables in getting next generation broadband everywhere, and the government must show total commitment in this. Government subsidy can be very helpful to get FTTH everywhere much quicker, and provided there is no wastage of funds.

Whether or not there is a £0.50 levy or a £6 tax, and regardless of how funding is arrived at, this does not change the fact that this upgrade must continue, and be accelerated further as soon as possible so that the UK achieves FTTH everywhere, and it should be also available in rural areas too.

Indeed FTTH (and technologies with similar speeds) is the best possible solution and the end game is that FTTH should be installed everywhere in the UK (and FTTC lines can always be upgraded to FTTH later as well).  Admittedly the cost is more for full FTTH everywhere but must not be a deterrent, and one would not attempt to upgrade the entire network in a single year anyway.  We would be setting up a futureproof broadband network which is ready for the future, and this can also create jobs in the process of setting up this network.