The Government (DSIT) has just confirmed that the Chair of their broadband and mobile centric Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, Simon Blagden, resigned from his position yesterday “with immediate effect“. The details of Simon’s departure have not been made public, but it’s perhaps not surprising given the recent change of Government.
A spokesperson at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said: “The Department would like to thank Mr Blagden for the significant contribution he has made in this role. Arrangements for appointing his successor will be confirmed in due course.”
The Labour Party’s recent 2024 General Election Manifesto (here) made clear that they would be making a “renewed push to fulfil the ambition of full gigabit and national 5G coverage by 2030.” The party has already given mild support to Project Gigabit and appears to be aware that any big changes would risk adding further delays to the gigabit roll-out. But aside from reform of the planning system (here), solid details of their wider plans in this area remain unclear.