According to the report released by the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), the cost of deploying fibre-optic networks in the UK to provide next generation broadband to 80 % of UK households will touch a figure of £16bn. The deployment will include Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) and wireless broadband network. The two reports released at the conference, has also focussed on the efficient ways of funding these expensive projects.

It seems the fibre network will have a coverage of 80 percent of households in urban places in the initial phase while the deployment of next generation broadband network in remote areas is expected to involve additional time and cost. As per the estimation, the FTTH network may take 10 years for completion while FTTC rollout would be completed in five years.

According to the report, the FTTC lines would offer download speed of up to 30 Mbps and upload speeds of 10 Mbps. The exact capacity of these lines will finally be reported only after BT Openreach has completed its trial using the FTTC in the UK.

Fibre to the Home (FTTH) will use the existing Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology and will provide relatively better speeds than FTTC. The network can offer upload speed of 37.5 Mbps and download speed of 75 Mbps. The GPON technology will also help to increase the bandwidth after some time. The use of fibre will also help to reduce error rate thus ensuring more reliable connection speeds.

Antony Walker of BSG has commented:

"It is tempting to jump in feet-first but it matters more to do this right than to do it now. There is a lot of uncertainty about issues on both the demand and supply side and much that we can learn from experience elsewhere without adverse affects in the short-term. On the other hand, the UK can’t wait too long. If widespread network deployment didn’t happen in the medium term (perhaps three to five years), then this report suggests that the UK could be losing out.

The report also warns that it will take longer to deploy next generation broadband than it took to deploy the current generation and that some areas might be beyond the reach of market forces. Communities and individuals that remain beyond the reach of commercial deployment in the long-term will be disadvantaged. Close attention must therefore be paid to the emergence of a new digital divide."