New 2030 target set for nationwide 1Gbps broadband

The government still plans to have 85% 1Gbps coverage by 2025

The government has set a new target for nationwide 1Gbps broadband - 2030.

The 2019 Conservative manifesto initially set a 2025 target - but this was later watered down to providing coverage to just 85% of the population.

In January, MPs cast doubt on the government achieving even this - but it has now promised it is still on target.

Also on Wednesday, it announced the 2030 target, in its Levelling Up White Paper aiming to close the gap between rich and poor parts of the country.

Rural communities

The initial budget for achieving nationwide 1Gbps, £5bn, remains in place - but in his November 2020 Spending Review Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced only £1.2bn of this would be made available before 2024.

Analyst Matthew Howett, from research company Assembly, said there appeared to be "a slight shifting of the goalposts of what was promised" in the election manifesto.

"How close they get to 'nationwide' will depend on two things - firstly, how far and fast the commercial build happens, and secondly, how well the government's scheme for the 20% of the country that is harder to reach and will need public money goes," he said.

Who would win contracts to roll out to harder-to-reach rural communities also remained undecided, he added.

Openreach, the firm that provides much of the UK's fibre infrastructure has so far provided the technology to 6.5 million homes.

"Going even further will need government support, for example they can act right now to speed up access to flats, social housing and private land across the country," said chief executive Clive Selley.

And reaching 100% of the country will "need more companies to join us and get involved in connecting rural communities with a mixture of satellite, wireless and fixed technologies," he added.

During the national lockdowns to curb Covid-19, there were many reports of people still struggling with very slow broadband services.

But in December, a report from regulator Ofcom found fewer than a quarter of the eight million households currently able to upgrade to full-fibre broadband had chosen to.

The report also revealed 47% of homes - 13.7 million - currently had access to 1Gbps-capable broadband, either via fibre or coaxial cable networks.