UK still lags behind on fast fibre connections

UK still lags behind on fast fibre connections

Only 0.05 per cent of UK households had fibre-to-the-household (FTTH) internet connections in summer this year, showing that the UK is still lagging behind in the drive to ensure everyone has access to a fast internet connection.

A report from The Register claims that this is due to the fact that BT is committed solely to rolling out fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) internet in order to keep costs down. BT claims that is it committed to rolling out FTTC internet connections to as much as 75 per cent of the UK. However, this is likely to mean that the UK will remain behind much of Europe.

The fact that only 0.05 per cent of households have FTTH connections puts the UK behind countries like Andorra and Serbia with regards to superfast connection. The government has no large-scale plans to deploy FTTH but still insists that its goal is to ensure the UK has the best fast broadband in Europe by 2015.

Part of the problem could be the government’s focus on expanding the reach of broadband, rather than its speed. Other countries, such as Germany, which you would expect to have invested in fast broadband for households and businesses, are also lagging behind and failing to put cash into FTTH connections.

BT’s resistance against the rolling out fibre networks could partly been down to a U-turn by EU Vice President Neelie Kroes earlier this year. According to The Register, She stated that “telco incumbents in Europe will not be reprimanded for using copper pricing as a barrier to rolling out fibre networks.”

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