As part of its ongoing digital agenda the UK Cabinet Office has published a set of interim maps of the UK Telecoms infrastructure:
Last summer we launched a review into the digital and telecommunications infrastructure owned or leased by the public sector to help us take full advantage of existing capacity.
Today we are publishing the initial results of this landscape review. These maps and data are a first step into increasing transparency and setting out how we will use our publicly-owned networks more effectively. In the past hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was spent building these networks – this Government believes they should be put to full use for all the public.
This is a great opportunity. We want to take full advantage of this existing capacity, avoiding wasteful duplication when buying additional resource. Government should be transparent and joined-up. This review is another step in that direction.
These maps show a significant infrastructure spanning much of the population of the country. There are, however, significant gaps for the rural community.
The change in UK Public Sector attitude to open data has been dramatic in recent years. I love the idea that sits behind publishing these maps and the data that goes with them; by making the information available the government are saying “This is a great opportunity” and what an opportunity it is. There are hundreds of miles of fibre running along our major roads. There is significant spare capacity on fibre running beside thousands of miles of railways.
Opportunities like this:
There’s obviously all sorts of limitations to how far you can exploit these critical systems, but at last we are starting the conversation:
Graham Chastney 