Digital Economy Soundbite | Digital: driving change on the UK infrastructure front

The UK government has demonstrated its commitment to overhaul the country's infrastructure in its Plan for Change and the HM Treasury paper presented to Parliament in June 2025, UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy. With digital infrastructure expansion is at its heart, the paper sets out some ambitious milestones for construction and renewal.

Expanding the UK's digital infrastructure footprint is seen as a fundamental step towards driving economic growth, boosting productivity across regions, and delivering better public services. This represents an ambitious plan which promises significant opportunities for the tech and telecoms sectors to shape the UK's economy and society.

Specific proposals include:

• expanding the reach of mobile networks, with 5G available across 99% of the UK – with satellite and fixed wireless access for the remotest regions – and withdrawing the legacy 2G and 3G networks. Separately, the mobile market generally will be reviewed;
• continuing with "Project Gigabit": replacing old copper networks with new gigabit-capable connections promising nationwide coverage and vastly improved connectivity to help businesses and unlock regional growth, with additional legal rights for leaseholders to benefit from gigabit deployment;
• increasing the nation's sovereign compute to help position the UK as a global leader in AI; and
• easing planning restrictions for gigafactories, laboratories and data centres, with other planning reforms in the pipeline to expand permitted development rights and facilitate street and underground works. The roll-out of "AI Growth Zones" (areas in which the local planning regime favours construction and access to energy networks is readily available) which is already under way will continue.

To achieve this, the UK government plans to work closely with the tech and telecoms sectors, stumping up at least £725 billion of public funding, alongside – it is hoped – an increased supply of private capital, including a revamped public/private partnership model. A new body, the National Infrastructure and Transformation Authority (NISTA), will oversee integration and drive delivery of infrastructure projects. This is a bold plan which represents a significant shift in the UK's infrastructure strategy. Its success will hinge on effective collaboration, resilient supply chains, and the government's long-term commitment to see it through.