High Cost of Converting UK To High-Speed Broadband

Smivs notes a BBC report on a government study toting up the high cost of converting the UK to high speed broadband, which could exceed £28.8 B ($52.5 B). The options examined range from fiber to the neighborhood, providing 30-100 Mbps connections for a total cost of £5.1 B ($9.3 B), up to individual fiber to the home offering 1 Gbps to each household at a cost of £28.8 B. England's rural areas could pose tough choices. In the lowest-cost, fiber-to-the-neighborhood scenario, "The [group] estimates that getting fiber to the cabinets near the first 58% of households could cost about £1.9 B. The next 26% would cost about £1.4 B and the final 16% would cost £1.8 B."

Comments

Re:Remember - It's an investment, not a $50bil los

[pzs]

Really? Does business really suffer from slow broadband speeds? Occasionally, I have to wait an extra 30 seconds for a file download but it's hardly impacting my productivity. What kind of business needs a really fat pipe to prosper?