Labour pledges free full-fibre broadband for all

Labour has pledged to give every home and business in the UK full-fibre broadband by 2030 if elected

Speaking to the BBC, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: “Apart from some parts of London, and some of our major cities, everywhere I go, they’re saying ‘Oh, we’ve either not got broadband at the speeds that we need, it’s holding our economy back.’

“The [Conservative] government has come forward with a £5bn investment but actually it’s nowhere near enough. So we’re saying it’s going to cost about £20bn, we’ll put the extra £15bn in.”

As part of its plans, the Labour Party would look to part re-nationalise BT in order to deliver on the promise, with taxation on internet giants like Google and Amazon making up the shortfall.

McDonnell said the roll-out would begin in the “more difficult to reach areas first” before working their way through smaller towns and cities to larger, better-served areas. 

With more and more people now using services demanding large amounts of data and significantly higher speeds, the UK certainly needs better connectivity. In terms of download speed alone, the UK lags woefully behind the rest of the world.

Research led by cable.co.uk found that the UK places 34th out of 207 countries for average download speed, behind the likes of Portugal, France and Belgium, and perhaps most surprisingly of all, Madagascar.

There are many challenges ahead in implementing full-fibre broadband, with infrastructure and affordability standing in the way.

Labour’s pledge to offer free full-fibre to homes and businesses by 2030 is one of a number of promises made by leader Jeremy Corbyn in the run-up to the general election, but is it feasible, and is it the only way the UK can be better connected?


READ MORE: The Challenges Facing 5G



Evan Dixon, Managing Director of Viasat Europe, said: “It’s hard to argue that broadband isn’t an essential utility. Increasingly, it is becoming impossible to fully participate in society without a fast broadband connection, and a lack of connectivity is still holding back many communities. Coupled with Johnson’s enthusiasm for fibre, this announcement shows that both parties see this as a major issue for the nation.”

However, Dixon does express worry over the political parties’ fixation on full-fibre, commenting that there are multiple technologies available now which could play a part in the roadmap towards full-scale connectivity, one of those being satellite.

“Regardless of whether broadband is subsidised or left to the free market, a true national broadband service needs to reach every inch of the country,” he said.

“Any true national broadband program needs to use multiple technologies – from fibre to 5G to satellite – to give everyone from consumers to emergency services the connectivity they need, when they need it.

“Not only is connectivity essential for a high-tech economy, but supporting the connectivity itself – including investment in faster fibre and satellite technologies – will boost the UK and provide capabilities that can be used across Government.”

Luke Conrad

Technology & Marketing Enthusiast

Custom Software Development

Natalia Yanchii • 04th October 2024

There is a wide performance gap between industry-leading companies and other market players. What helps these top businesses outperform their competitors? McKinsey & Company researchers are confident that these are digital technologies and custom software solutions. Nearly 70% of the top performers develop their proprietary products to differentiate themselves from competitors and drive growth. As...

The Impact of Test Automation on Software Quality

Natalia Yanchii • 04th October 2024

Software systems have become highly complex now, with multiple interconnected components, diverse user interfaces, and business logic. To ensure quality, QA engineers thoroughly test these systems through either automated or manual testing. At Testlum, we met many software development teams who were pressured to deliver new features and updates at a faster pace. The manual...

Custom Software Development

Natalia Yanchii • 03rd October 2024

There is a wide performance gap between industry-leading companies and other market players. What helps these top businesses outperform their competitors? McKinsey & Company researchers are confident that these are digital technologies and custom software solutions. Nearly 70% of the top performers develop their proprietary products to differentiate themselves from competitors and drive growth. As...

Six ways to maintain compliance and remain secure

Patrick Spencer VP at Kiteworks • 16th September 2024

With approximately 3.4 billion malicious emails circulating daily, it is crucial for organisations to implement strong safeguards to protect against phishing and business email compromise (BEC) attacks. It is a problem that is not going to go away. In fact, email phishing scams continue to rise, with news of Screwfix customers being targeted breaking at...

Enriching the Edge-Cloud Continuum with eLxr

Jeff Reser • 12th September 2024

At the global Debian conference this summer, the eLxr Project was launched, delivering the first release of a Debian derivative that inherits the intelligent edge capabilities of Debian, with plans to expand these for a streamlined edge-to-cloud deployment approach. eLxr is an open source, enterprise-grade Linux distribution that addresses the unique challenges of near-edge networks...
The Digital Transformation Expo is coming to London on October 2-3. Register now!