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Four weeks can be a long time in the networking industry. This is certainly what July proved as we saw the UK’s digital agenda once again thrust into the media spotlight with a flurry of announcements centred on the development of the UK’s network infrastructure.
The month certainly began in a positive way with Martha Lane Fox, the UK’s Digital Champion, striding into the Cabinet Office to launch the Race Online 2012 campaign. Designed to make the UK the first nation where everyone can use the web, this ambitious campaign has a deadline of 2012 to provide Internet access to the 10 million Britons who have never been online. The figure of 10 million represents more than the population of the country’s five largest cities. The Digital Champion’s approach to achieving this is quite interesting in that she is proposing a community-wide initiative, where we all encourage and offer support to those who don’t currently have Internet access. Whether this be in the form of donating equipment, organising web nights at local education centres or other such communal activities.
David Cameron, the UK’s Prime Minister, fully supports this campaign, saying at the launch, “We need to ensure that people aren’t being left behind as more and more services and businesses move online.” His support comes as no surprise, especially if a communal approach requires no government investment.
Unfortunately, it was Cameron, or more specifically Jeremy Hunt, the government’s culture spokesperson, who somewhat deflated the positive mood surrounding the UK’s digital agenda later in July when he announced that the roll-out of universal broadband to everyone in the UK would be delayed by three years until 2015. At this time, everyone will have access to 2Mbps. This stands as quite a contrast to the universal 100Mbps the Conservative’s promised by 2017 in their pre-election campaign.
And it’s here where there is a clear divide between the government’s ambition to support broadband development and their actual willingness to do so. This stands in stark contrast to other initiatives currently being developed. One need only look at the work of Neelie Kroes and the European Commission with their Digital Agenda action plan or the US, where the $7.2 billion stimulus funding is having a real impact in connecting people.
Thankfully, by the end of July, another announcement showed that the UK’s network infrastructure was improving, even if incrementally, with broadband speeds across fixed lines hitting download speeds of 5.2Mbps.
With the UK’s politicians now on summer hiatus, one can only hope that they return to parliament with renewed vigour and focus and a greater understanding of how to move this country’s broadband infrastructure forward.
What do you think? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the UK’s digital agenda and what improvements you believe we can make to start moving the country and it’s network forward.
Update:
Martha Lane Fox discusses the challenges of building a networked nation with no financial backing from the government. Read more here.
I think after the shambles of the ‘digitalbritain’ agenda this government has made a start on delivering a truly great digital britain… BDUK has seen through the farce of BET and the other proposals mooted for the pathetic USC. Virgin and other larger telcos are forging ahead, which has raised the average speed bar. Nothing has yet been done for the notspots, but there are great plans afoot in various areas. There is going to be a rural broadband conference at Rheged on 18th September where Rory Stewart has assembled some movers and shakers from the final third first campaign. They have been working for years for the time when politicians would start to get IT. Some are coming out of the caves now and seeing through all the spin. The way forward is fibre to the home, and it is possible to deliver it in rural areas with limited funding if the playing field is levelled. Consequently that is the aim – and it will be acheived this time. The last government wouldn’t listen to the grassroots people. With Big Society the rules have changed and we finally get Power to the People. Watch this space and don’t lose heart.
chris
http://blog.conservatives.com/index.php/2010/08/04/bringing-broadband-to-rural-communities/
http://www.rorystewart.co.uk/broadband/
http://finalthirdfirst.com
Thanks, Cyberdoyle. It’s reassuring to see your optimism and commitment. I share your frustrations with the previous government and hope Cameron is able to deliver more than rhetoric. While I’m concerned about the delays to any form of substantial universal broadband roll-out, it’s wonderful to see such a grass roots push here, one that I know you’re heavily involved in. It’s also good to see the service providers moving ahead with speed enhancements and increased coverage. As you highlighted, rural broadband is a key concern for many. I look forward to hearing the results of the Rheged conference; I may even try to attend.
Thanks,
Gareth
New comment from Brian Wadsworth on the 21st Century Communications for Britain LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=2042766&type=member&item=26257614&qid=2e3f546f-0384-4c94-86d2-1454eda623d2&goback=.gmp_2042766
Gareth, I for one am disillusioned with the political rhetoric purporting to support the roll out of ‘real’ broadband that even then, would simply enable the UK to compete on a global stage that we are rapidly falling behind. HOWEVER, this rhetoric (no matter the colour) is simply clap-trap with zero substance. I’m certain that Ms Lane-Fox will soon discover the realities of her challenge. The ISP’s are dominated by bean counters who refuse to look long term. IF ONLY, the financial analysts would see the logic in writing down (to zero) the asset value of the copper infrastructure they have valued on their balance sheets, then this may force the pace of change.
Furthermore, IF ONLY, the politicians who are only focused on ‘cost’ reduction, could get some courage and apply VISION, then we would see the demand for such broadband to make significant improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of our Health, Education et al services …. which in turn would reduce costs.
I fear that we are in a short term dominated culture where bean counters rule whilst Visoinaries and Industrialists our totally dominated and ignored.
Yet, unbelievably maybe, I still live in hope! ….
Thanks, Brian. I agree that there appears to be a strong disconnect between what Cameron is promising and what he is actually committing in regards to financial and legislative support. There is clearly no vision here and no real appreciation of the value an improved network could have on the UK. However, I felt somewhat reassured by Cyberdoyle’s comment. It will be interesting to see what impact local communities can have on the development of improved network infrastructures.
Thanks,
Gareth
The major roadblock to the deployment of the 4th Utility in the UK is the uncertainty caused by premature Government intervention into a market that is evolving not failing at all.
The “market testing” projects announced at the recent BDUK Industry Day are a prime example of this problem.
It is simply too early to declare market failure for NGA in the so-called Final Third.
The NextGenUs Ashby project, currently in build phase, http://www.nextgenus.net is an experimental, community interest and commercially-sustainable rural FttH deployment that is notable for not involving a penny of Taxpayers Money.
Sure, hand-outs of Public Subsidy are superficially attractive, or perhaps beguiling is more apt a description.
Bearing in mind the extraordinary economic times in which we live, some hard decisions must be made about what are the real priorities for HM Treasury and where the Private and Community Sectors can step up.
Broadband, for all its undoubted utility and benefits to society is not a matter of life or death.
This 4th Utility is arguably the least important in the Maslow Hierarchy sense (when compared to water, gas and electricity) and as such customers must be realistic and be prepared to step up by committing to take service.
The supplyside of future-proof NGA, FttH + Wireless = FiWi, is matured, in terms of materials, methodology, deployment process.
All that is lacking is sufficient demand aggregated in each local community respectively.
Given that demand then the economics of FiWi are attractive.
What is required to really drive 21st Century telecoms forwards in the UK is a moratorium on any further broadband funding by Government until 2012.
Let the market deliver for the next 2 years and then reassess the situation and it will be clear where there is genuine need for Taxpayer intervention
Thanks, FiberGuy. I have to confess that I’ve been interested in your work in the Humber region for some time and would like to congratulate you on what you’ve achieved: http://www.fibrestream.co.uk/.
You present a very reasoned response and I agree with you on a number of points. However, waiting another two years before seeing any government action seems overly long. I agree that the government clearly needs to prioritise where to focus its resources, but the lack of any real vision on this topic concerns me. I’ve heard so many pledges from both the previous and current government on a so-called ‘networked nation’ but see no real reasoning as to how this will be achieved.
However, it’s reassuring to see the government’s apparent inertia contrasted with a number of ambitious community projects. As Cyberdoyle mentioned, perhaps this is the Big Society in action. Where the government fails to act, the community intervenes
Thanks,
Gareth
hi Guy
I think that is what government is intending, to let the market deliver… but until there are some decent pilots up and running then demand for NGA won’t happen. In a similar way to gas, electric and water, people aren’t interested in how delivery is acheived, they just expect it to happen, as with any utility.
For government to ease the passage of private investment in this 4th utility they have to level the playing field. There is no point in laying fibre to the homes of people in a community if it is going to cost thousands to feed those homes and tax to pay out of all proportion. Like Gareth I too am a great admirer of your work, and having laid and lit the first rural fibre to the home in the UK thanks to your help I hate to disagree with you, but I think seed corn funding especially for NGA pilots is necessary. I think BDUK will follow through on this and once communities see what real broadband is you will have your work cut out building many new networks. I hope you are ready to start recruiting staff…
chris
Hadn’t seen Brian’s comment when I did mine, but I totally agree with him. As long as the incumbent is allowed to continue milking the obsolete copper we will get further and further behind. We see the rural infrastructure as the challenge we have to take on, once the rural areas are on fibre the incumbent will soon make strides to get it to the urban areas before we do. By the same token, openreach will do everything in their power to stop us. Including using the lapdog ofcom to influence politicians. Until the MPs do their homework they will continue to be conned and made fools of by these people. The writing is on the wall, and the elephant in the room is now exposed. The quangos will either change sides or get burnt. The days of protecting the telcos are coming to an end.
Power to the people.
chris
New comment from Brian Wadsworth on the 21st Century Communications for Britain LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=2042766&type=member&item=26257614&qid=ba0fe3e9-ed46-4ae9-a7f2-a591a3bd067f&goback=.gmp_2042766.
Yes, I am aware that there are localised self help groups beginning to take up the challenge and some of them seem to be making progress.
You may be interested in the following anecdote which illustrates my frustration with ISP’s (BT in particular!): As part of my business activities, I am Chair and CEO of a Digital Media agency in Leeds and we have recently relocated to the digital hub in the centre of Leeds. Being such a hub one would anticipate that it would be serviced with a first class communications infrastructure? However, the biggest obstacle to our move came from BT Openreach who would not commit to upgrading their ‘copper crap’ (and therefore limited line availability and bandwidth) to provide us with the necessary comms access. We therefore had to find ‘innovative’ ways around the problem. During the course of our ‘drive’ to solve the problem I got the City council involved and discovered other such disgruntled clients on the site! Suffice to say BT Openreach were totally disinterested in solving our problems. That all said; there is a (sadly subsequent) silver lining as we have recently discovered dark fibre on the site to which we can gain access to the required bandwidth and service levels … we just have to get oursleves out of the current ISP contract to facilitate the transfer! I only wish that there had been more site and City awareness of this capacity & capability BEFORE we got into all the hassle and wrangling with BT.
I’m sorry to hear of your frustrations and glad to see that you will hopefully be able to resolve this problem. I completely agree that there needs to be greater transparency regarding the underlying infrastructure and what’s possible.
On a related matter, it was interesting to see earlier this week that BT will now be sharing data more openly with competing service providers, potentially encouraging further fibre roll-outs: http://bit.ly/bbYXlO.
Thanks,
Gareth
there is dark fibre everywhere. Openretch won’t let people into theirs, but there is lots which doesn’t belong to them, and once its available there will be a mass migration to it. The main problem is people aren’t aware of the potential of NGA yet and aren’t prepared to look for it. Well done for finding some and getting access, you will soon be rocking.
As long as we are tied to the crappy copper we are going nowhere as a country. The digital economy is suffering whilst openreach throttle the golden goose. No more golden eggs until all our innovators have fibre. Keep an eye on Eden in Cumbria, the MP there (Rory Stewart) has more ICT savvy than most MPs and is lobbying for access to the infrastructure with plans to roll out fibre into the rural areas for people to build their own networks with. The pops are called digital village pumps and will provide the affordable access to next gen that you are obviously planning in Leeds. Power. To. The People.
chris
I would agree. There really needs to be some focus here and a little government encouragement could provide the impetus that is needed. If we wait another two years, how much further will the UK fall behind in regard to fibre deployments and the development of universal broadband access?
Thanks,
Gareth
I agree that waiting around for another 2 years is not on and that is the ironic big picture risk in diverting communities with shiny funding chimera when we know there simply isn’t the public money to fund more than at most 5% of the total cost of world-class NGA deployment(FttH)
The reality is that the market is quietly getting on with delivery regardless – where government can help is through encouraging the Digitally Reluctant to want to get on line and again that is best done at a grassroots, local level anyway.
Note that I am talking about First Mile Access infrastructure here.
The Fat Pipe feed for each Digital Village Pump is a different matter and where I completely agree with CyberDoyle that seed corn funding can be really helpful.
What we need as a nation in the short to medium term is distance independent backhaul pricing and only until such time as…
Thanks, Guy. I do agree with you. Perhaps this education and grassroots promotion is where the UK’s Digital Champion will be able to help. Or at the very least promote the issues on a national level.
Perhaps you should volunteer yourself to be one of the Humber’s Digital Champions. Although it appears that this is a position you’ve secretly held for a long time now.
Thanks,
Gareth
As Guy points out above there is no need for public subsidy in the case where there is a sufficiently high take up rate to make the numbers stack up. There may well be a case for public intervention in terms of making capital available (which would be repaid out of operating profits), facilitating communications, and bringing key partners together.
Community ownership is clearly hugely beneficial in terms of boosting these take-up rates, and therefore makes lots of sense. Timing is the critical issue: it takes time to mobilise community awareness and support where funding is limited, and BT/Openresch appear to be playing the same sort of games that they got up to when ADSL first rolled out.
Thanks for the comment. Are you aware of any figures that show the number of communities without access to broadband? Are there any maps available from Ofcom? And of these communities, I wonder what the demand for improved internet access is.
Thanks,
Gareth