2Mbps broadband plan from the government praised by Analyst firm

The latest proposals for a universal broadband service by the UK government that will provide every household with a minimum of 2Mbps download speed has been given full support form Point Topic, the research company.

In the recent interim report of the forthcoming Digital Britain report the minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting made the announcement of the proposed broadband target.

The new proposals are being strongly supported by Point Topic as long as there can be assurances that the service quality can be maintained, however some industry experts have strongly criticised the 2Mbps figure as being too little too late.

Tim Johnson, the chief analyst at Point Topic said “We believe that investing to deliver 2Mbit/s could provide the platform for full next-generation broadband in areas where it would not otherwise happen for many years.”

The fact that over two thirds of all UK homes can already get 2Mbps broadband connection speeds, and certain areas of the country are even getting speeds of up to 50Mbps, was something that Johnson agreed made the current targets laid out by the government seem very modest on initial inspection.

He did, however, continue by saying that the number of households that fell into the ‘slowband’ zones with speeds of under 2Mbps still numbered in their millions, and without serious investment there was little hope of this changing. An introduction of a basic service level for all homes in the UK, and the provision of a robust and solid platform with which to build on and offer far higher future broadband speeds would be created by this move, added Johnson.

To be able to support the implementation of the Universal Service Agreement (USC) considerable investment will be required for the telephone network in order to roll out fibre cabling to BT street cabinets. Johnson said “FTTC [fibre-to-the-cabinet] is the key next-generation access technology which will support download speeds of 40Mbit/s or more. So the apparently cautious requirement for 2Mbit/s will help to provide financial support and a market driver for next-generation access. Looking at it this way, the pundits who protest that 2Mbit/s is too modest are missing the point.”