It has been the case for some time that many new residential developments have not been built to include the provision for superfast broadband.
However, a few key changes introduced over the past year should put a change to that.
Firstly, most residential building companies will have teamed up with network operator prior to construction to make sure that the finished project will be able to facilitate fibre optic connectivity.
Secondly new initiatives brought in by the EU, which have been incorporated into UK law, mean that all new builds (work that was granted permission from 2017) must be “equipped with a high-speed-ready in-building physical infrastructure, up to the network termination points.”
This information has been filtered down to local authorities who have been told to accommodate these new parameters when approving planning. Making homes compatible with high speed internet is only half the battle however, and the developers still must find ISPs to utilise the network provided– and this can prove difficult.
New data indicate that between one quarter and one fifth of newly built homes in the UK are not compatible with superfast fibre broadband. The rising number of houses being constructed year on year is likely to jeopardise the government’s plans to reach 97-98% superfast broadband coverage by 2020. There is also the fact that many of these projects can take several years to finish means many nearing completion soon may have been approved before 2017. Essentially some areas that awarded large contracts may find themselves playing catch up soon to hit local connectivity targets.
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