How does the Fibre Optic Broadband Plan Add Up?

Currently, the government plan to use a Broadband tax in order to facilitate the building of a fibre optic network across much on the United Kingdom, giving millions of net users access the much faster speeds and raising the average speed of a net connection by a huge amount – bringing the UK in line with other European countries and even countries like Japan and Korea that enjoy net connections over fifty times faster than the UK average.

Many people oppose the tax however, which is something the Conservatives are happy to point out. In fact, they’ve announced that they will scrap the tax “as soon as possible” if the party wins the general election next year.

While that might seem like a great way of saving a few pounds, the Shadow Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt has only stated that the tax will abolished, and has so far given no indication of exactly how or if they money will be found elsewhere to build a fibre optic network. Currently the broadband tax is set to raise around £175 million every year.

BT have claimed that working with the government will be vital in expanding the fibre optic network outside of major cities. For now at least, it seems the future of Fibre Optic broadband in the UK remains uncertain.

In a speech in January, David Cameron mentioned his plans to provide high speed broadband for the entire country, although he was careful not to give away any details about how this might be achieved. He mentioned that the Tories “will encourage and support the private investment required to develop the network”.

Recent Broadband Stories