What are the major parties promising when it comes to broadband?

The General Election is a few weeks away and both the Conservatives and Labour have released their manifestos in a bid to win over the British public.

Telecommunications are both mentioned, with both parties appearing to recognise the importance of investing in infrastructure that will help businesses grow in the digital age.

Prime Minister Theresa May has reportedly stuck by the Conservative Party policy, which largely centres around making fixed line superfast broadband available to around 97% of the country’s premises by 2020 while also committing to a push for a 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) to help cater for the remaining 3%.

The party has recently committed to £600 million to boost full fibre deployment, which is widely seen as potentially laying down the foundations for 5G mobile services.

One of the few new nuggets of policy outlined in the manifesto is the target of rolling out 5G to a majority of the population by 2027.

As outlined in the Budget 2017, there is also an aim to introduce 100% rates relief on new full-fibre infrastructure over the next five years. The measures will not apply to existing infrastructure.

Labour is similarly dedicated to developing the UK’s infrastructure, with the latest manifesto outlining an aspiration to roll out 300Mbps broadband to a majority of the UK within the next ten years.

There is not mention of a specific target for rolling out 300Mbps technology, although leader Jeremy Corbyn has already mentioned ambitions to establishing a Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP/H) broadband network, which would potentially be funded by £25 billion from a new National Investment Bank (NIB).

The aspirations of rolling out 300Mbps speeds does not explicitly refer to FTTP/H technology, but there is a possibility that it may well allow Labour to explore other technologies, although there is precious little detail for experts to make an all-encompassing prediction.

With few surprises from the two main parties, there are unlikely to be too many shocks for experts and businesses when the outcome of the election is known.

If you’re looking for a telecoms solution for your business before the election takes place, contact us today.