While the UK may be playing catch up to many of its European neighbours in terms of fixed line and mobile connectivity, there is a sense that the country is finally beginning to focus on the critical infrastructure that will underpin its future prosperity.
Last month, the UK's Finance Minister, Philip Hammond, said that the country would require 15 million fibre to the home (FTTH) connections by 2025 to facilitate the evolution of its digital economy – a point that was reiterated by the UK's Minister for Digital, Margot James, at the Connected Britain 2018 event in London last week.
Britain currently languishes towards the bottom of the table in terms of fibre network penetration, with the latest estimates suggesting that the country has managed only 3.5 per cent penetration. When compared to other European nations such as Latvia (50.6 per cent), Sweden (43.4 per cent) and Spain (33.9 per cent) the UK's position as a fibre laggard is painfully apparent. While the average FTTH penetration rate for the 28 EU nations is a more modest 13.9 per cent, it is clear that the UK has a long way to go before it can even gain parity with that particular milestone.
As Britain begins to get serious about fibre, the future is bright for the network builders and infrastructure providers who will help to sharpen the country's focus on full fibre networks.
Against this backdrop, I met with Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre, to discuss how the company is helping to ignite a fibre revolution across the UK.
Shedding the 'fibre laggard' image
According to Mesch…read more on TotalTele.com »