Rural roll-out, city not-spots, availability of super fast connection for SMEs as well as ultrafast broadband connectivity for broadband subscribers are listed as the top four challenges for broadband services in the UK by Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, in its newly released Infrastructure Report 2014.
According to Ofcom, the rural roll-out targets the final 5% of UK premises who are yet to have broadband connectivity while the city not-spots highlight areas within UK cities, including London that have poor superfast broadband coverage due to the unavailability of street cabinet for upgrades (Fiber to the Curb) caused by existing direct connectivity to the local telephone exchange. As for the SMEs, Ofcom says that SMEs will be leveraging high quality broadband to continue contributing to the economy and hence, require access to the best service. At the same time, Ofcom foresees some early ultrafast broadband deployments taking place next year. Ultrafast broadband refers to a connection speed of 1 gigabit per second (1Gbit/s).
As for mobile broadband, Ofcom said that it is preparing to auction addition spectrum to improve network capacity and that the Government has committed £150m to bring mobile coverage to unserved households in the UK. Ofcom has also made available information on local broadband, mobile, TV and radio coverage using the Ofcom Interactive Map, a single-stop for consumers and businesses to discover the quality of the communications infrastructure in any area within the UK. The service provides data on fixed and mobile broadband coverage as well as on the coverage of freeview services ie the availability of public service and commercial channels on digital terrestrial TV; as well as the coverage of digital radio services ie local council-area coverage for BBC and commercial digital radio channels.
