back to article Fujitsu QUITS bid for superfast broadband gov funds

Fujitsu has walked away from bidding for a slice of the £530m Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) pie that the government set aside to improve the country's broadband network. The move leaves incumbent BT as the only provider to have successfully secured state investment to date for the project. "At the moment there are no bids …

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  1. Bob H
    Trollface

    BT vs 4G

    Ignoring the confusing messages over interference, couldn't this money be better spent by the mobile companies on 4G? Given the fact that BT will probably take ages, still screw it up and not provide value I would imagine that deploying 4G would make more sense for rural areas? Perhaps a shared 4G infrastructure agreement for rural areas, perhaps organised by Hutchinson?

    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Meh

      Re: BT vs 4G

      I'm sceptical about mobile's ability to handle the load. There's only so much bandwidth available over the air and everyone within a given mast's footprint has to share it. Of course you can build more masts but that costs money and often meets local resistance.

      Even then it might only be a solution in urban areas. Getting decent backhaul to a mast in the back end of beyond is never going to be cheap or easy.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: BT vs 4G

      There'd be nowhere near the bandwidth required to serve the required percentage of the population - and the thousands of masts required would need connecting to a backbone. It would cost more.

      Also - it's "Hutchison" - no 'n' after the 'i'.

  2. AndrueC Silver badge
    FAIL

    Honestly, I'm not surprised. Fujitsu's offer always sounded like an attempted land grab. Can't really blame them but I got the impression they always wanted everything or nothing. But I think BDUK has been one big failure. If you want to see how it should be done look at the BT/EU partnership in Cornwall.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Are Fujitsu still a supplier to BT, as well as a competitor in the BDUK picture?

    Do Fujitsu still supply stuff to BT? Equipment (whatever a DSLAM is called these days, etc), managed services (digging holes, routing cables, etc)?

    Obviously it's entirely improbable that anyone in charge at BT would even think about telling Fujitsu not to bid for any more of that kit+services stuff if Fujitsu beat BT on any BDUK bids.

    Isn't it.

    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Big Brother

      Re: Are Fujitsu still a supplier to BT, as well as a competitor in the BDUK picture?

      About as improbable as BT asking Fujtisu to bid then drop out purely so they could be seen to have had some competition.

  4. feanor

    A BT spokesman accusing others of cherry picking!!!! Oh the irony! Nice to see their spokesmen have a sense of humour!

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