Artificial intelligence is widely considered as one of the defining technologies of the coming decades. Governments, businesses, and investors are racing to understand how rapid advances in machine learning will reshape economies, markets, and societies.
Much of the discussion around AI focuses on computing power and the rising demand for data centres. These are important constraints. Yet another critical enabler receives less attention: connectivity. For AI to deliver broad economic and social benefits, it must be widely accessible – and that cannot happen without high-speed digital infrastructure.
The demand for robust digital networks is increasing, making continued investment in fibre infrastructure essential. Long-term capital plays an important role in expanding coverage and strengthening network resilience, helping to ensure that digital access is available on an equitable and sustainable basis.
History demonstrates that transformative technologies rarely reach their full potential without supporting infrastructure. The steam engine revolutionised industry only after rail networks connected cities and communities; the electric light bulb reshaped modern life once electricity grids reached homes and businesses. AI may follow a similar pattern in that its technology is revolutionary, but its societal and economic impact will ultimately depend on the infrastructure enabling broad access.
Connectivity and economic participation
The link between broadband penetration and economic growth is well established. A World Bank study[i] found that a 10% increase in broadband could raise GDP by roughly 1.2 percentage points in high-income economies and almost 1.4 points in low-income economies. While the global economy has evolved, the principle remains that access to high-quality digital infrastructure, supported by sustained long-term investment, underpins productivity, innovation, and labour participation.
Yet access remains uneven, even within advanced economies. In the UK, digital exclusion affects an estimated 19 million people. Research by the Digital Poverty Alliance[1] suggests that around half of socioeconomically disadvantaged households face digital poverty, while unemployed individuals are significantly more likely to lack connectivity. Digital poverty – the inability to interact fully with the online world when, where, and how an individual needs – can limit access to employment, education, public services, and financial tools.
These disparities create an “inequality loop”. Communities already facing socioeconomic challenges are also those least likely to have reliable digital access, making it harder to participate in the modern economy.
While AI is set to change the world, it risks leaving a large and very important swathe of the population behind with an even bigger canyon to bridge unless this inequality is addressed.
In 2025, the United Nations warned that “infrastructure readiness is the prerequisite for inclusive AI,” highlighting that reliable internet, electricity, and computing capacity are now as fundamental to development as roads and power grids.
Fibre as foundational infrastructure
Fibre optic broadband networks are central to bridging this divide. Many AI-driven services operate through cloud-based platforms that demand high-capacity, low-latency connections, capabilities fibre provides far more effectively than legacy copper systems. As digital services expand – from remote working and online education to AI applications – fibre connectivity is increasingly essential, comparable to other utilities such as power, water, or transport.
The UK illustrates how fibre deployment has evolved. While the core telecommunications backbone has long relied on fibre, last-mile connections linking homes and businesses historically depended on copper. Over the past decade, fibre-to-the-premises networks have grown rapidly, supported by incumbents, new alternative providers, and regulatory reforms encouraging competition.
Despite progress, coverage remains uneven. Urban areas typically benefit first, while rural and hard-to-reach communities continue to face connectivity gaps. Closing these gaps requires substantial additional long-term investment from both public and private capital.
Building the foundations of the AI-driven economy
The AI debate often focuses on algorithms and computing power, yet the broader digital ecosystem, and the investment needed to build it, is equally critical. Just as electricity grids enabled twentieth-century technologies, fibre networks underpin the AI-driven economy. Ensuring access in both urban and rural areas is essential if society is to avoid widening digital divides.
For policymakers, expanding connectivity is not merely a telecommunications goal, but an economic imperative. For pension funds and other long-term investors, financing fibre networks offers exposure to essential infrastructure assets with stable demand characteristics, supporting portfolio resilience and the potential for predictable, long‑term returns for beneficiaries.
AI may be one of the defining technologies of our time, but its benefits will only be fully realised if the infrastructure needed to access it is widely available, and investors have a key role to play in making that possible.
[1] Digital Poverty in the UK: A socio-economic assessment of the implications of digital poverty in the UK (2023)
