While the UK government continues to roll out a variety of broadband initiatives for the future, with the intention that all of the UK will at some point in the future have access to super speed broadband, is this the way forward?
While estimates vary regarding the cost of introducing a fibre-optic network to the UK, it is apparent that the cost will be in the tens of billions of pounds. However, many people are now starting to put forward mobile broadband as a potential solution to the ongoing issue of rural broadband connections in the UK. Is it really cheaper to install mobile broadband in more rural areas?
While there are obvious network upgrades required to accommodate mobile broadband, even though the UK is littered with mobile broadband beacons, it is more a case of return on investment into the future. Whichever way you look at it, the return on investment from any type of broadband service in more rural parts of the UK will be slow when compared to the larger cities around the country. There is also the question of whether mobile broadband will in the future be able to keep pace with changes to physical broadband network speeds with many experts suggesting that the gap will widen in due course.
A very interesting and thought provoking question?