Waiting for Dido?

Typical! You wait years for a new fibre initiative, then two (three?) come along together.... OK, the old adage may be a bit overworked but I was genuinely pleased to discover this week that the prospect of widespread gigabit networks might have come just a little bit closer.

The exciting news in the UK was of course the announcement by TalkTalk that it wants to extend the fibre network planned for York to reach more than 10m homes.  When news of its York joint venture with Sky and City Fibre first emerged, TalkTalk said it would be followed by at least two other cities but the company now says it wants to enlarge the fibre network substantially.  It apparently plans to do this by launching a national city competition along the lines of the strategy adopted in the US by Google Fibre.  According to Dido Harding, the CEO: 

“We believe the economics of our approach to FTTP could prove highly attractive, with a combination of scale and low cost build technology delivering a significantly lower cost per home passed than for the current FTTC infrastructure.” 

Sceptics have been lining up to pour cold water on the announcement.  They point out that similar claims in the past by CityFibre have come to nothing, or that the trial is really just a negotiating tactic in TalkTalk’s continuing attempts to challenge BT’s wholesale charges.  But I for one refuse not to be encouraged by Ms. Harding’s bold assertion that ‘We have a long term vision to build infrastructure’. 

Elsewhere, the ‘fibre initiatives’ I’ve spotted are a little more obscure.  The first popped up amid the ongoing media consolidation in the US.  There, AT&T has offered a number of commitments to regulators to sweeten the pill of its proposed acquisition of DirecTV, and one of these is to provide broadband access to 15m new customers – including homes outside its existing footprint (partly using fixed wireless technology).  A pious hope, maybe, but perhaps the combination of this US initiative and TalkTalk’s fibre project here will persuade Liberty Global (Virgin Media) to consider new broadband coverage in the UK… 

Finally, I must acknowledge the Labour Party’s new on-line policy and discussion forum, Labour Digital.  Already, a loyal supporter has proposed a ‘national Scheme to deliver 1 Gbps broadband to all’.  Maybe he should speak to Google…