Oxford Media Convention (1)
25 January 2010
Last week's annual Oxford Media Convention was obviously the last before the General Election and keynote speakers were members of both the Labour Government and the Conservative Opposition.
Stephen Timms put the case for "government activism" in the face of the global economic crisis and the changing communications scene. He underlined the Government's commitment to the introduction of a universal broadband commitment for the 10% of homes which cannot currently receive a minimum broadband speed of 2 Mbit/s and to the next generation levy (or landline duty) which will promote next generation broadband to the 'final third' of the country unlikely to receive it through market forces.
You can read his full speech here.
Jeremy Hunt welcomed the production of a Digital Economy Bill but expressed opposition to more tax or more regulation. He was concerned at the extra powers which the Bill would give to Ofcom and suggested that the regulator already did more than it should. For him, the "phone tax" was "misconceived" and he feared that, if implemented, it would lead to disconnections from fixed lines. Instead he argued that BT should be required to open up its ducts to competing operators.
He spoke without any notes (and without use of a rostrum) but you can read the official text of the speech here.
Several members of the Communications Consumer Panel were present at the Oxford Media Convention and the Chair Anna Bradley spoke at one of the seminars.