Poll claims two thirds of Britons are unaware of the right to apply USO for Broadband
The Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband is a measure intended to act as a safety net to provide broadband to those facilities that do not have access to a decent and affordable connection in UK. The government has defined a decent connection as one that can deliver a download speed of 10 megabits per second (Mbps) and an upload speed of 1 Mbps (along with other defined quality parameters). Ofcom has defined an affordable connection as one that costs less than 45 per month.
Eligibility Criteria for USO
Residents and businesses are eligible for the USO if: they do not have access to a decent broadband connection through any technology, including wireless connections such as mobile broadband; or if the only available service that can meet the minimum criteria costs more than £45 per month; and the property is not to be connected by a publicly funded development program within 12 months; and establishing the connection costs no more than 3,400 per building (or the customer has chosen to pay the excess in excess of this amount).
As of 2022, Ofcom estimates that around 123,000 buildings in the UK (0.4%) did not have access to a decent broadband connection. These premises are mostly located in remote, rural areas
When and how is the application submitted?
Applications must be made through BT (or KCOM in Hull). KCOM understands that there are no suitable premises in their area due to the reach of their existing network.
How many People are aware of USO for Broadband
A latest poll of 2,019 UK residents with broadband subscriptions, conducted by National Broadband, has claimed that nearly two-thirds (63%) of UK broadband users are unaware they are entitled to access download speeds of 10 Mbit/s and more (universal obligation to perform). However, this conclusion may not be correct.
The survey adds that 60% of respondents agree that the public does not need to pay anything at all to install broadband infrastructure, while 51% on the other hand believe that the government needs to do more when it comes to it to improve broadband speeds across the country. But the reason for public intervention in some areas (e.g. remote rural areas) is usually because commercial delivery models have failed. We should add that the USO itself is an industry funded system (mainly through BT).
The survey also links to a campaign page on the National Broadbands website which says: Did you know that every home and business in the UK has the legal right to apply for access to a decent broadband service of at least 10Mbps ? Probably not. And that’s why we’ve raised awareness of the universal service obligation for broadband.
However, the survey and website claim mentioned above are not entirely accurate, which is because they overlooked an important aspect of eligibility. The main problem is that Ofcom’s USO is only available to those who do NOT already have access to a 10Mbps broadband connection and are not scheduled to benefit from a planned upgrade within the next 12 months. In practice, this usually means that only those in the bottom 2% or less of UK sites can successfully request the 10Mbps USO, and most of them will be offered a 4G-based fix (just a very small one part will be able to get a landline solution like FTTP). This also casts doubt on the poll result as there is no specific indication in the press release that the vendor filtered the 63% result to focus only on the actual eligible respondents.
