CityFibre jumps on the BoJo bus

With Boris Johnson (BoJo) settling into his new home in No.10 Downing Street, CityFibre is one of the first telcos to champion the office of the blonde bombshell.

“As the original champions of full fibre in the UK, we are delighted to see the new Government recognise the vital importance of rolling out this transformational infrastructure, and we stand ready to work with Government to help achieve this vision,” a CityFibre spokesperson stated.

The UK is now entering into the realms of the unknown, though there is one thing which we can be certain of over the next few months; politics is going to have a very different taste with BoJo at the helm. We couldn’t imagine a character more perfectly opposite to former-Prime Minister Theresa May, at least not in the Conservative party anyway.

“Full fibre connectivity is key to introduce a new generation of services, catalyse innovation, promote creativity and drive the economic and social development of the UK,” the statement continues.

What will be interesting to understand is whether the 100% penetration of full-fibre broadband services by 2025, a target hyped by BoJo over the last few weeks, is a genuine ambition or hot air. History has told us that BoJo has a tendency to get a bit over-excited when it comes to facts and figures, and this one might be a little ambitious.

The only certainty is change. BoJo will likely be more aggressive when it comes to Brexit and probably more pandering when it comes to the relationship with the US. BoJo is somewhat of a pet favourite of US President Donald Trump, fighting with former-UKIP leader Nigel Farage for most loving strokes from the Commander in Chief.

Some might say this is a good position for the UK, with Brexit forcing the Government to look further afield for lucrative trade deals, though the Huawei saga will continue. The Supply Chain Review announcement left no-one with clarity over the UKs position, though with BoJo’s White House relationship it might spell trouble. The can has been kicked down the street and it has landed firmly in BoJo’s office.

After a 24-hour period which some media sites have been describing as a ‘Cabinet Massacre’, the industry will also have to get to grips with a new Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. MP for Loughborough Nicky Morgan has assumed control of the department, and her CV can tell you why…

After working as a corporate lawyer at Travers Smith specialising in mergers and acquisitions, Morgan moved in-house to corporate law and was then elected as an MP in 2010. Since that point, Morgan has as the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Minister for Women and Equalities, Secretary of State for Education and Chair of the Treasury Select Committee.

Looking through the ‘They work for you’ website, Morgan has not contributed to any discussions which concern technology, media or telecommunications in recent months. An interesting choice for DCMS and an interesting couple of months in store as Morgan gets herself up-to-speed.