This week, the UK's finance minister Philip Hammond said that the UK would need 15 million fibre to the home (FTTH) connections by 2025, in order to enable the profitable evolution of the country's digital economy.
As you might expect, the announcement was met with a clamour of enthusiastic agreement by the UK's alt-nets and fibre network builders. The enthusiasm is tempered, however, with a healthy dose of reality, as the industry lined up to remind Mr Hammond that if he is serious about achieving that target, huge levels of investment will be required.
“The Chancellor’s announcement is welcome news and addresses our calls for a national, full fibre plan, which is desperately needed to secure our future economic growth. However, we must not underestimate the sheer scale of the challenge," said Matthew Hare, chief executive, Gigaclear.
This sentiment was echoed by CityFibre's CEO, Greg Mesch, who called for Mr Hammond to do away with the UK's "make do and mend" mentality.
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