By Richard Feasey
Movements in the value of almost any nation’s housing stock massively exceed the costs of deploying fibre to every one of those households. Global housing equity is about 2.7 times that of global gross domestic product (GDP). In Europe, where house prices are growing at about 4% annually, the total cost of deploying fibre to every home would absorb less than a quarter of the annual increase in the value of the region’s housing stock. Yet housing policy and broadband policy remain totally disconnected. In this article, I explain why policymakers around the world need to think about how to use house price inflation to finance fibre roll out.
With so much equity tied up in the world’s housing stock it makes sense to direct a proportion towards stalled fibre broadband rollouts, argues RICHARD FEASEY.
- Intermedia Issue:
- Vol 45, Issue 01
- Issue Date:
- April 2017
Richard Feasey
Panel Member, Competition and Markets Authority, UK 
