First a summit, now a budget commitment
23 April 2009
Things are moving very fast in the broadband debate and all to the good for consumers, citizens and small businesses. Last week I attended the Digital Britain summit in London (similar events are being held in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland this week). In London we had not one, not even two or three, but four Ministers attending, including Gordon Brown. You can be left in no doubt about the political committment to advancing the digital agenda in Britain.
Yesterday we had a budget commitment to universal 2mb broadband by 2012 - a policy intitaive which our most recent (soon to be published consumer research) strongly supports. But perhaps even more interesting than 2mb broadband, is the energy that there seems now to be in relation to next generation, superfast broadband.
In September March 2008 I said "We already know that the economic case for next generation access will not stack up in some areas and we can predict which areas that will be. So let's address these issues alongside commercial roll-out, not after it."
At the summit last week, Ian Livingstone (Chief Executive of BT) and Neil Burkett (Chief Executive of Virgin Media) both emphasised the fact that while the market would deliver half the superfast broadband needed, we should get on and worry about the other half now, not wait for market failure and deepened exclusion. And yesterday, the Department of Business (DBERR) said in its budget statement that "The Government has consulted a design group made up of network experts on the best and most cost -effective ways of delivering a universal service via a range of solutions, including wired and mobile networks." Their conclusions, which will inform the detailed scheme design that will be published in the Digital Britain Final report, suggest that for at least some groups of currently underserved users a leap-frog to next generation superfast broadband may be the most economical solution.
The Panel are delighted to see these shifts in the prevailing view about whether to act or wait on superfast broadband - it will give hope to those consumers living with no or very poor broadband services at present. Our research shows that many of them are desperate to have better access, experiencing what they descibe as real disadvantage.
With so much progress it might seem mealy mouthed to ask what next; the final Digital Britain report has not yet been published, but there is a big question about how the momentum can be maintained beyond that final report. At the summit last week, I asked Stephen Carter what next. Carter agreed that the work was far from complete and suggested that there might be a need for not just a Bill, but also for a dedicated Government Department to maintain the momentum that has been achieved to date.
Anna