In recent years broadband has often been referred to as the ‘4th utility’, but this suggestion has been met with scepticism as to whether it can truly be on a par with water, gas and electricity. At Hyperoptic we wanted to test the theory independently and see what might be driving this thought process. We worked with the experts at SAY Property Consulting to look at the issue from the perspective of 228 housing professionals and 2,000 homeowners or renters. We also worked with Applied Futurist, Tom Cheesewright to add his perspective.
Is broadband really the 4th utility?
Each group were quizzed about their expectations regarding property. And the findings seem to back up the ‘4th utility’ argument. Some 86% of the public claim that having a decent connection in their property is ‘important’ to them whilst 64% said they would be ‘put off’ by a home with slow Wi-Fi.
This feedback is also reflected by the property industry with 60% of respondents rating ‘reliable, fast, fibre connectivity’ as critical and ‘the fourth utility’. A further 32% defined it as ‘a key attractor’ for buyers and renters.
Wiredscore provides digital consultancy services to the property sector and contributed to the report. In its view much of the ‘4th utility’ argument is being underpinned by the growth of smart devices within the home. Henry Pethybridge, its Director of Home said, “We’re seeing more and more technology going in and there’s a real opportunity for integration and technology that can enhance people’s living experience without being as front and centre as Alexa or obvious smart devices.”
Devices for less than a £1
Tom Cheesewright takes this even further and in his view: “the price of adding connectivity and basic intelligence to every day devices has collapsed to well under £1 and is diving ever further downwards. Previously dumb objects in our home can suddenly become devices: lightbulbs, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, plug sockets, stereos, televisions. Pursuing this trend, it is easy to see tables and chairs, cupboards and clothes, even baths and toilets, gaining some basic sensing and intelligence and the means by which to share what they learn.”
So how do property managers best respond to the challenge? Firstly, it’s important to grasp one fundamental fact – it doesn’t matter what the device or whether it’s installed by the landlord or tenant. It has one thing in common; it will work better with rock solid connectivity. The more devices a home has the more bandwidth they need to function properly. It is not necessarily the role of the property manager to have a full top to bottom plan of every technology that could affect the property industry. There are too many and for most the use cases have yet to be fully developed or the technology is not yet mature enough. And of course, in most cases, the technology is brought in by the tenant. However, it can be argued that one area of clear responsibility for the property manager is to ensure that underlying connectivity is provided to the building – and in 2020 this means that connection must be full fibre.
Only 8% of properties have full fibre
It’s an unfortunate fact that just 8% of properties in the country have access to true full fibre which extends right to the building. It’s the chief reason why the average broadband speed in the UK is just 54.2 Mbps (with many receiving a lot less than that and with fluctuating performance at different times). Full fibre on the other hand delivers speeds up to 1Gbps – some 18x quicker than the average broadband speed in the UK - with uploads just as quick as downloads.
Many homes have been poorly served by broadband providers which have been unwilling to make the necessary infrastructure investment to deliver full fibre and have instead used legacy ADSL technology delivered over copper wire and branded it ‘fibre’. Property managers have hence not been in a strong position to offer tenants anything more than has been on the market.
The market has changed
With greater deregulation, new providers of full fibre broadband have entered the market. This has changed the dynamics forever. There has often been a misconception that the biggest challenge to delivering full fibre is funding. This is untrue, rather it is gaining the necessary permissions to install services. Normally this takes the form of a ‘wayleave’ - the right of way granted by the landowner to give access to the property. It can take time, which is why it’s crucial for a partnership between the broadband provider and property manager to evolve in order to cut through ‘red tape’.
Thereafter the arrangement is a genuine ‘win-win’, the broadband provider offers an original specification followed by a cost neutral installation. It then undertakes maintenance at its own cost going forward. It works for both new developments – offering ‘day one’ connectivity as standard to new home movers, but also retro fits existing blocks. The provider takes on the installation and maintenance costs and residents are then offered a range of affordable packages, with some tailored specifically to housing association residents.
Full fibre is the ‘gold standard’ of broadband and having it in place makes a real difference to the lives of residents. Under these arrangements all homes can be future-proofed for whatever technology or devices will throw at them and at no cost to the property owner. There are very few ‘no brainer’ decisions that anyone in property has to make, but this is one of them.
Charles Davies, MD ISP, Hyperoptic
