Today, the UK government released some preliminary thoughts on how best to make broadband networks and services available nationwide and to ensure that the country will be one of the driving new media economies by 2012.
This interim report, ambitiously titled ‘Digital Britain‘, identifies many of the market drivers and hurdles facing the broadband sector in the UK. It also tentatively suggests how some of these obstacles will be overcome and how some market drivers can be leveraged to achieve this goal.
On the face of it, the report provides much to be positive about the UK’s broadband potential.
However, the reality is that this pipe dream would only create yet more ‘dumb pipes’. Indeed, the report unearths very few ‘new’ insights into how best to stimulate development of and usage of broadband networks, be they fixed or mobile. And as for a guiding strategy for the next three/four years… well, the report will come as a disappointment to many.
Yet, with talk of government subsidies and suggestions that more regulatory tinkering is needed, the report has elicted a positive response from the major broadband players in the UK, including BT and Virgin Media.
There are benefits in replacing legacy circuit-switched networks to IP-driven next-generation networks. Greater quantities of bandwidth-intensive traffic need networks running at tens or even hundreds of Mbit/s. The report advocates a universal offering of a rather weedy 2Mbit/s, however: rather a waste of fibre capacity, I’d have thought.
Further, such networks are costly to build: it will be difficult persuading operators to extend these networks virtually nationwide under universal service obligations. Operators could call on subsidies to make this work. But in the current economic climate? With the cost of hosting the 2012 Olympics spiralling ever upwards? Hmmm…
The report also suggests that operators could be helped to rationalise their spectrum assets and to capitalise on spectrum that’s currently lying fallow or not being used to its full potential. Again, this is not a new issue and it’s one that regulator Ofcom is already working on.
As my colleague Howard Wilcox points out: “The mobile device is becoming the universal means of access to a wider range of services which will make peoples’ lives easier including entertainment, payments and banking. The freeing up of radio spectrum is an essential next step towards extending and improving mobile broadband access and enhancing services. Mobile broadband is already favoured by demographic groups instead of fixed broadband.”
True. But I still can’t see government, regulator or trade-backed influence impacting on operators’ thinking.
Nevertheless, the government needs to be applauded for looking to the digital economy to improve Britain’s standing economically and socially. Planning ahead will definitely reap rewards in the future.
Tags: 2012, 3G, broadband, BT, Digital Britain, dumb pipe, fibre, fixed, mobile, mobile broadband, next generation network, NGN, Ofcom, Office of Communications, spectrum, strategy, United Kingdom, Virgin Media, wireless, wireline
