Jack Loughran Thu 8 Aug 2024
Collected at: https://eandt.theiet.org/2024/08/08/hs2-could-boost-rural-internet-selling-spare-fibreoptic-capacity-along-new-rail-route
HS2 is considering selling spare data capacity from fibre-optic cables running alongside the in-construction railway project to local broadband providers in a bid to improve internet connectivity along the route.
The new railway – which will link London and Birmingham – runs through largely rural areas of Buckinghamshire, West Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire, many of which lag behind the rest of the UK in terms of data speed and mobile coverage.
Around 2,000km of fibre-optic cabling will run alongside the railway, as well as a series of telecoms masts, to support the railway’s signalling and telecoms and provide data to passengers.
On a typical train, mobile devices get their data from each telecoms mast the train passes – jumping from one to another in quick succession. This often leads to reduced bandwidth and occasional drop-outs.
On HS2 services, however, the data can also be fed directly to the train, which will then link onward to passenger’s phones, significantly improving the quality of the connection.
While in office, the Conservative Party had been working on rolling out gigabit broadband to at least 85% of the UK population by 2025. But the high cost of installing the direct fibre connections needed has meant that there has been a weak business case for installing the infrastructure in some of the most rural areas with sparse populations.
Because most of the cost of cabling is installation, this could dramatically reduce the cost of bringing direct fibre connections to less populated areas.
The latest Ofcom data – commissioned by HS2 – has identified more than 538 postcodes within 5km of the HS2 route that currently do not have access to ‘ultrafast’ speeds of more than 100Mbit/s. That includes 209 postcodes that currently don’t even have access to ‘decent’ broadband speeds – considered to be at least 10Mbit/s.
While the railway is expected to open between 2029 and 2033, telecoms companies could get access to masts and fibre-optic cabling two years before the railway opens, during the testing and commissioning phase.
Rail minister Lord Hendy said: “This scheme will have a positive impact on local areas for generations to come, providing connectivity that will create new opportunities for people and businesses to thrive.”
As part of the next stage of construction for HS2, around 80 telecoms masts will be built alongside the railway to provide signalling for the trains, which will travel at speeds of up to 360km/h.
These masts could also be used to boost local mobile coverage, with 15 postcodes along the route currently unable to receive a reliable 5G signal.
The initiative is designed to complement the government’s push to improve rural broadband including the £3.8m England’s Connected Heartland project, which involves a similar project to introduce 5G technology along the new East West Rail route between Oxford and Milton Keynes.
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