Next generation broadband: market led or state intervention?

BT and others are currently deploying broadband networks around the UK. While these provide speeds well in excess of narrowband dial-up, there are many indications that required speeds might rise as high as 100 Mbits/s by around 2017. Based on current technological trends it seems likely that only fibre deployments are capable of meeting these demands, however, there has been little deployment of fibre to the home to date. This paper considers the likelihood of industry deploying fibre and examines whether there is a case for state intervention rather than leaving deployment to the free market.