30Mbps USO will kill most of BT's plans for Pointless G.fast
It's actually starting to look like some pressure on BT's "sitting on hands approach".
It's a important change if it happens, as it will decide much of the new BT rollout plans, G.fast tech is looking very short term, right now, if at all worth bothering with, given the zero business rates for new fibre.
Having a 30Mbps USO will kill/scale back most of BT's plans for cherry picking bamboozled, obfuscated "upto" Pointless G.fast. Not sure BT/G.fast Promoters (and there are many out there) are going to like this. I suppose the real question is how many BT subscribers will use this legislation and pay for 30Mbps installs.
The 10Mbps USO legislation as it stands is skewed very much in the favour of BT.
The whole point of a 10Mbps USO pushed by Ed Vaizey, was it "helpfully/conveniently" fitted in with BT's lacklustre G.fast technical plans, to enable headline cherry picking of sites for G.fast rollout.
Allowing "upto" G.fast to cherry pick top headline speeds i.e. "upto" 330Mbps Ultrafast Broadband to a select few very close to existing FTTC Cabinets (the same people already getting near 80Mbps), while those on much longer lines - the 10Mbps USO being achievable using existing ADSL / (or where exchanges allowed ADSL to be removed) - LR VDSL, or bonded lines.
Remember too, this is for anyone that could be bothered to request this from BT via USO legislation (and pay), i.e. going from 5Mbps to 10Mbps, are you really going to want to pay £15000 for the privilege?
Let's face it at 10Mbps, it was looking like a USO that no one would bother to take up. Damp Squib Legislation.
30Mbps sits well with the notion that any line copper/alu longer than 500m by cable (250m as the crow flies) should now be replaced with true FTTP, anything less than 500m can remain (BT's preference) "upto" G.fast, which should be able to offer 30Mbps at the outer edges on all cable qualities (copper/alu) at that distance. The true cut-off is somewhere between 250m and 500m by cable, but its a start.
But maybe given the real results of the G.fast trials, BT have just decided that going forward, it would be better to stick to one technology, i.e. FTTP for new installs, this 30Mbps change would pretty much cement that.
BT will probably still want to use their Pointless "upto" G.fast though, so this saves face, allowing it to be used on lines less than 500m by cable.
The amendment should also specify the cable type though i.e. Fibre optic on lines greater than 500m, because BT have been upgrading 0.5mm Copper to 0.9mm Copper in Wales to "just" meet 30Mbps specification, rather than "do the done thing", in the spirit of the Superfast Broadband Programme - replacing with long copper lines with FTTP.
That would then prevent BT from doing pointless (rearranging the chairs) copper upgrades to "just" meet 30Mbps specifications.