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£10m boost for full fibre connectivity across London
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said that new investment will see large parts of London receive better full fibre connectivity when using the Tube network and public buildings.
The £10 million of funding will make it possible for more of London to access gigabit-speed connectivity – starting with 118,000 properties in south London – by tackling ‘not spot’ areas which suffer from poor connectivity.
New fibre optic cabling will be laid along TfL tunnels to create a ‘fibre backbone’ across London. The new investment will cover the installation costs of linking these fibre optic cables to public buildings, such as community centres and libraries.
Currently around 90 per cent of London is served by fibre only reaching local telecoms exchanges. Most homes are then connected with copper cabling, which offers much lower speeds. As such, London currently lags behind other cities due to its reliance on copper: only around 11 per cent of properties can order full fibre connections, compared to 70 per cent in Spain and Sweden.
Khan, said: “London’s future digital connectivity will be built on fibre. High-speed connectivity is crucial for businesses of all sizes and sectors, not to mention Londoners accessing digital services at home and around the city.
“This represents the largest investment in connectivity City Hall has ever made – the funding I’m announcing today unlocks the potential for us to use the Tube network and public buildings in bringing gigabit-speed connectivity to Londoners currently putting up with poor service. I hope this provides the catalyst for further investment from the public and private sectors – I’m urging them to match my ambitions to get all Londoners connected.”
Shashi Verma, Chief Technology Officer at TfL, said: “We’re delighted that we can help increase connectivity across the city by using the London Underground to help provide better broadband internet. This work is on top of our wider plans to remove one of London’s biggest not-spots by bringing 4G to the Tube network, with the first section on track to go live from March 2020.”
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