What are some of the supply chain issues and risks associated with fibre deployment in the next 10 years? To what extent is the UK able to self-sufficiently, domestically produce, fibre and ducting for the needs of the market and to what extent is it reliant on imports?
Background
BDUK wishes to develop a stronger evidence base around the telecoms market and how it functions at a national level. In these markets, BDUK is interested in increasing understanding of infrastructure planning and decision making, as well as how infrastructure maintenance can be ensured in the long term.
BDUK would like more insight into the barriers to delivery of gigabit and mobile roll-out across the UK and what technological innovations may assist in this. International comparisons for gigabit and mobile connectivity roll out would also be beneficial.
Cutting across all programmes, BDUK wants to understand more about the impacts of fixed and mobile connectivity, specifically how greater connectivity benefits businesses, residents, and public sector organisations. In addition, BDUK also needs more evidence on the behavioural changes connectivity makes to residents and businesses which have been connected, and the wider impacts this may have.
Lastly, BDUK is interested in more evidence on the environmental impact of its work.
Next steps
If you are keen to register your interest in working and connecting with DSIT Digital Technology and Telecoms Group and/or submitting evidence, then please complete the DSIT-ARI Evidence survey - https://dsit.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cDfmK2OukVAnirs.
Please view full details: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-science-innovation-and-technology-areas-of-research-interest/dsit-areas-of-research-interest-2024
Topics
Related UKRI funded projects
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TINFOIL - Trenchless Installation Fibre Optic Cable
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of digital inclusion, and households and indirectly businesses, have become even more dependent on broadband connectivity. Data traffic has risen quickly and whilst it...
Funded by: Innovate UK
Lead research organisation: FAST2FIBRE LIMITED
Why might this be relevant?
Partially relevant as it focuses on fibre optic cable installation but does not address supply chain issues or domestic production.
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Fiction, Friction, and the Phenomena of Fibre: Towards an Ethnography of Critical Digital Infrastructure
Overhead, underfoot, and beneath the ocean’s surface, a vast but largely invisible network of fibre-optic cables forms the material substratum of the internet, carrying more than 99% of global internet traffic. Over the ...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: London School of Economics and Political Science
Why might this be relevant?
Partially relevant as it focuses on the social, political, and cultural dimensions of fibre-optic internet infrastructure, but does not directly address supply chain issues and risks associated with fibre deployment.
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High Speed (400Mbps) Broadband over existing Copper
Proof of Concept trials have shown that it is feasible to deliver up to 400 Mbps over standard copper telephone wires by reconfiguring the architecture into DSL Rings®, the first major change to the copper telephone ...
Funded by: Innovate UK
Lead research organisation: GENESIS TECHNICAL SYSTEMS UK LIMITED
Why might this be relevant?
Partially relevant as it discusses high-speed broadband over copper wires but does not address supply chain issues or domestic production.