Forget superfast, forget ultrafast, Theresa May's government wants us all to adopt a new mouthful of a term: gold standard full-fibre broadband—a tech that will get a £400 million boost on Wednesday.

Chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond will pledge the taxpayer-funded cash during his first Autumn Statement to MPs. The promised £400 million will be lifted from a new Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund and the figure will be expected to be matched by private investment.

As Ars reported in October, the Tory government has been hinting at a shift in broadband policy since May got the keys to Number 10.

Broadband minister Matt Hancock recently said that BT's rollout of largely fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) tech—half of the cost of which has been propped up by £530 million of taxpayer money as part of the Broadband Delivery UK project—had left "full fibre" on the back burner.

At present, only two percent of the UK has access to "full-fibre" broadband connections. The government has said that the "gold standard" label applies to networks with the "capacity to reach speeds of more than 1Gbps."

It's worth noting that the previous chancellor George Osborne said in November 2015, during his final Autumn Statement, that alternative networks would be given better access to finance with talk of an unspecified wad of cash that the treasury said would be "supported by both public and private investors, and would be managed by the private sector on a commercial basis."

However, before now, it was unclear how much money would be set aside for altnets. The £400 million pot suggests that the government is betting big on fibre broadband providers.

"We welcome the chancellor's support," said Malcolm Corbett, chief of the Independent Networks Cooperative Association. "The altnets are the entrepreneurial companies and communities building new, future-proofed, pure fibre and wireless networks. They are doing a fantastic job and the chancellor's support signals that government is serious about creating a more competitive environment for new digital infrastructure."

CityFibre boss Greg Mesch said that the funding would "stimulate" competition in the rollout of fibre broadband. "Britain’s industrial strategy needs a digital backbone, and it is essential that we move quickly to plug the UK’s 'fibre gap' and empower our service-based economy," he added.

However, BT chairman Sir Mike Rake challenged the government's pledge by claiming that the former state monopoly was doing a good job at addressing slow broadband speeds across most of the country. He told the BBC's Today programme: "We are committed to getting fibre to the premise ultimately, which is the long-term game, because it's much more reliable," he said.

BT has been developing plans to deploy its G.fast service to millions of premises by 2020. It has also been testing out Long Reach VDSL technology. But the vast majority of its network connections are served via fibre-to-the-cabinet—a fibre-optic connection that is carried to the home via VDSL over a twisted pair of copper wires.

The government has also announced funding to the tune of £740 million for 5G technology trials and to pay for the rollout of more fibre broadband connections.