UK to guarantee access to 10 Mbps broadband

The UK government has passed new legislation setting the design of the new broadband universal service obligation, which will guarantee everyone in the country has access to affordable broadband speeds of at least 10 Mbps by 2020.

The new USO is designed to bring the roughly 5% of the UK that does not have access to broadband speeds above 10 Mbps up to the minimum standard.

It will also introduce quality requirements for upload speeds, the responsiveness of connections and data caps. Telecommunications operators will be required to fund deployments themselves rather than with public funding.

The connection obligation will be subject to a per premises cost threshold for designated providers of £3400 ($6225), which the government estimates will enable coverage of around 99.8% of premises. The remaining premises will be offered a satellite connection or the option to cover excess connection costs themselves.

The government plans to increase the 10 Mbps floor speed over time as consumer needs expand.

“In the 21st century, accessing the internet is a necessity not a luxury,” Digital Minister Margot James said.

“We are building a Britain that is fit for the future, and we’re now putting high-speed broadband on a similar footing as other essential services like water and phone lines.”

The Australian Government recently announced plans to establish a universal service guarantee entitling all Australian premises with access to both broadband and voice services.

The guarantee will require 100% of Australian premises to be able to access broadband services on the request by the completion of the nbn rollout in 2020, but the government has not yet indicated whether there will be minimum speed requirements beyond the speed tiers offered by nbn co.

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