It will be a legal right to demand high-speed broadband

By Tyrese Garvie & Lewis Rogers

In the past few years, we have seen an increase in broadband speeds, with there now being more locations than ever around Britain with 4G coverage. So would it surprise you, if I told you that over 1 million houses and offices in the UK are without the sufficient broadband speeds they require, according to a report published this year by the regulatory body, Ofcom. The Connected Nation’s Report (CNR) found that 4% of the nation does not have the speeds they require. The report also highlighted the need for more mobile network connections as many people still receive weak signals whilst on the move. In a statement, Ofcom’s technology chief, Steve Unger said:

“Broadband coverage is improving, but our findings show there’s still urgent work required before people and businesses get the services they need.”

UK networks have grown by 52% and now the average household broadband connection delivers 190 GB of data each month.

Ofcom has stated that a decent internet connection speed is defined by a download speed of 10 Megabits per second (Mbps). To put 10Mbps into context; your average movie, in high definition (HD) quality would take around 90 minutes to download… and that’s if nobody else was connected to the network/wi-fi.

If you don’t have superfast broadband, you can still enjoy a wide range of online activities. These are the speeds required for various kinds of browsing and streaming: pic.twitter.com/z4Z7dbeO0i

— Ofcom (@Ofcom) December 15, 2017

Download speed isn’t the only important feature of a fast broadband connection – now, more than ever, homes and businesses are in desperate need of faster upload speeds to support conference calling and hosted VoIP solutions such as IP Pro.

What is changing?

The Government have said that everyone will have the legal right to demand high-speed broadband by the year 2020.

NEWS: Today we’ve confirmed everyone will have the legal right to demand high speed broadband by 2020. A big step forward in making Britain #fitforthefuture https://t.co/YaCpoitMTO

— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) December 20, 2017

This is a major advance for the UK and puts the pressure on ISPs, like ourselves to ensure that our customers are getting the best service available to support your growth and development as a business in the United Kingdom. The British Government has promised that the UK will have speeds of at least 10Mbps by 2020. The connection speed was most likely agreed on after viewing the CNR, published by Ofcom.

The government have said that Universal Service Obligation offers certainty of their promise.

We have confirmed that universal high speed #broadband will be delivered by a regulatory Universal Service Obligation (USO), giving everyone in the UK a legal right to fast and reliable broadband https://t.co/Amzqeiicex

— DCMS (@DCMS) December 20, 2017

Understandably, there has been a backlash from the rural community and others, still concerned that internet still will not be delivered.

The farm here can’t even get dial up we all have to rely on mobile 3G/4G

— . (@lesbashford) December 20, 2017

This is one of those hairy fairy statements which doesn’t actually mean anything. ‘Legal right to demand’. Why not just say ‘we’re delivering’.

— Steve (@NottmsteveH) December 20, 2017

Whether or not the Government delivers on its promise is something we’ll just have to wait for. But why wait around for the Government to deliver fast broadband, when you can order it today, with us. Call us on 0345 450 9393 (Opt 1) for more information.

Don’t be like Uber, Imgur, Equifax, TalkTalk or Morrisons – be a secure, safe and responsible business that knows how to handle customer and business data responsibly and within the boundaries of the law.