In the last 10 years, the telecommunications sector has been quietly growing and starting to put in place a fibre optic network to enable homes and businesses to gain access to faster internet speeds.

 

Faster and more reliable high speed internet access is an enabler to an increasing number of aspects of our lives. It is also a key foundation to achieving smarter towns and cities that are capable of harnessing real-time data and information for the benefit of how it operates and how we as the population can take advantage of such information.

 

Our lives are increasingly on-line, something that has only been exaggerated by the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic, with video conferences becoming a necessity for both our professional and personal lives.

 

To achieve faster internet speeds, we will generally need to gain access to a fibre optic network. This moves us away from a telephone and internet service that is based on cooper wires, where the internet speeds are limited.

 

 

On the face of it, the technology associated with this form of telecommunications seems basic. We are used to seeing our footpaths dug up, in readiness for ducts to be installed, along with cabinets and small access pots. However, the fibre technology continues to evolve along with the methods of construction and installation.

 

This sector is regulated, with the aim to improve competition and the value that customers can expect. This ranges from allowing different companies to use each other’s existing infrastructure, to government providing investment incentives to encourage the construction of fibre networks in more rural areas.

 

Other alternative technologies also exist and continue to develop. These range from the use of radio waves, through to an internet service achieved from satellites in space. Research in this sector continues and the world record for internet speed was recently broken by engineers from the University College London (UCL) who achieved a speed of 178 terabits per second. This would enable a user to download all the material on Netflix in a single second.

 

 

To rise to the increasing demand a mixture of government targets, government incentives and private investment has seen the emergence of a significant number of new organisations developing and growing to build new fibre optic networks. 

 

This phase of capital expenditure in the telecoms sector was last seen in the 90s where a considerable number of mobile telephone masts were constructed across the country to service the consumer demands for the use of personal mobile phones.

 

Each business has made decisions on how to shape their offering. Some simply build a network, whereas others both build a network and seek to have paying customers as an ‘Internet Service Provider’ (ISP). 

 

What they all have in common is an urgency to gain a presence as part of the race to become a brand of the future and to have a sustainable business model. The investment phase that they are currently in involves investment and the borrowing of capital. The payback period will be in many years to come. But what is certain is that the demand for high speed internet is here to stay.

 

 

Daniel has over 20 years major infrastructure experience working alongside major clients, delivering both transformational projects and change programmes to improve total client and supply chain capability. 

 

He is an expert in the emerging fibre optics market and has played a leading role in defining and delivering project and programme controls. Daniel delivers approaches that are appropriate, aligned to his client’s requirements and enable early management action to positively influence outcomes and the achievement of project and programme benefits.