All newly-built homes will have ultra-fast internet connections, Culture Secretary announces

Every new home will have to have an ultrafast broadband connection under new housing legislation, the Culture Secretary has announced.

Oliver Dowden said housing regulations were due to be changed so developers will need to ensure that all new units have a ‘gigabit-capable’ connection if they want permission to start construction.

The Government said it had also struck a deal with broadband providers to part-fund the installation of connections in new-builds.

The announcement comes as the Government has committed £5 billion to ensure all homes have a gigabit-capable connection, which will be able to provide the high speeds needed for future use, by 2025.

Gigabit-capable internet means connections that can reach speeds of up to 1000mbps. Currently, anything over 30mbps is considered ‘super fast’ and most domestic packages don’t offer much over 100mbps.

However, ministers said that one in five new-builds were still not being constructed with a gigabit-capable connection. 

This was largely the case for smaller developments where it was not profitable for broadband providers to route faster connections, or where operators had not been given sufficient time to install connections during the building process.

Under the new legislation developers will have to ensure that all buildings have the connection included, unless it costs more than £2,000 per unit to install. In those cases, developers will be expected to provide the homes with at least a ‘super fast’ connection.

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “This legislation means every new home will be built fit for the future and give people access to world-class broadband speeds from the moment they move in.

“It's all part of our plan to deliver on our commitment to give everyone in the UK access to gigabit broadband, as we connect and level up the country."

The Government said it aimed to bring the new legislation before MPs ‘as soon as parliamentary time allows’.

To help developers follow the new regulations, Ministers said they had struck deals with major broadband providers to subsidise the cost of having the new connections installed.

Virgin Media has said it will contribute at least £500 per unit and in the case of some larger sites £1,000. Meanwhile, BT-owned Openreach said it will make a combined contribution with developers of £3,400, with a maximum developer contribution of £2,000. The Government added that it expects to have agreement from other broadband operators in the coming weeks.  

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “We are building more new homes than at any time in the last 30 years and helping more people to get onto the ladder. We want to ensure those new homes are high quality and fit for the future.

“Today’s announcement will deliver internet speeds 200 times faster than you would need to watch an HD film on Netflix.”

The move is the latest in a series of measures the Government has announced to improve the country’s internet connectivity by 2025.

Earlier this month ministers announced they had sealed a £1 billion deal with major mobile operators to get 4G signal to all parts of the country. The Shared Rural Network scheme willl see providers such as BT, Three and O2 share mobile masts to improve signal in remote areas.

A spokesman for the Internet Service Providers' Association, IPSA, said: “We are pleased that the Government has listened to the concerns that we have raised, and has mandated fibre to new build developments in England.

“Our members are working hard to roll out gigabit connections across the country and these amendments will help ensure that the building of housing and broadband infrastructure better align and reduce the need for retrospective installations.”