| 22 December 2020
The UK government is set to miss even its scaled back targets to roll out gigabit broadband across the UK according to a report from the UK s Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee.
The warning comes as the UK government launches a consultation on the draft procurement strategy for its UK Gigabit Programme, setting out plans to connect the first one million homes and businesses with gigabit speed broadband and maximise coverage in the hardest to reach 20% of the UK by 2025.
It follows the announcement in November 2020 that the government was rolling back its original plan to deliver gigabit broadband to “every home” by 2025 to “minimum of 85% coverage” by 2025; a move that was criticised by the UK broadband industry. The budget of the plan remains at the £5 billion, set out as a manifesto commitment by the UK government a year ago, but only £1.2 billion of that sum will be made available up until 2024.