UK government plans new homes with superfast broadband connectivity

The UK government's plans to have newly-built homes be equipped with superfast broadband, have met with criticism.

The government had worked with Openreach – BT's local access network business – and the Home Builders Federation (HBF) on an agreement which aimed to deliver superfast broadband connectivity to new build properties in the UK.

Under the new deal, fibre-based broadband would be offered to all new developments either free or as part of a co-funded initiative. It had been estimated that over half of all newly built properties could be connected to fibre broadband free of charge to developers.

According to commentators, in an age where so many new PC and tech products require an internet connection, deals like this could help increase the sale of connected products as more homeowners had better access to networks.

However, Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms expert at broadband and TV advice site Cable.co.uk, criticised the government's move.

''Thousands of homes up and down the UK have been built or are being built with unfit broadband connectivity. Cable.co.uk has received countless complaints from new-build homebuyers over the past twelve months. They are still pouring in, and the government's answer to them in this instance is wholly inadequate," he said.

The move comes under an EU directive stating that every new home must be high-speed ready by 1 January 2017.

Labour MP Chi Onwurah, the shadow digital minister, had last year lambasted the government over its record on connecting new developments.

She told Cable.co.uk it was "incomprehensible" that new homes were built without the connectivity and said that it was a "huge opportunity to get it right...with fibre."

Digital economy minister Ed Vaizey said, "Broadband connectivity is just one thing that home buyers now expect when buying a new build, so this industry-led push to make superfast, or indeed ultrafast, broadband speeds available by default in new homes represents a very important step in meeting the UK's digital needs."