Broadband can't wait for government

Ubiquitous public sector broadband would change everything - healthcare, education and interactions with government. But the UK still lacks the basic infrastructure.

Until high-speed connections are available, in even the remotest areas, then the benefits of broadband will be limited. We run the risk of social exclusion and the so-called 'digital divide'.

Since BT dropped its prices in February, consumer demand has rocketed. But this won't justify expensive infrastructure investment in sparsely-populated rural areas. So government strategy is to combine all the UK's public sector plans for spending on broadband services and use the total aggregated demand as an incentive for the private sector to invest in the market.

The bandwidth requirements of all local public sector organisations - councils, hospitals, schools - would create enough guaranteed demand to tempt commercial telecom suppliers wary of unsupported outlays. That's the theory anyway.

Since the policy was announced in November, a feasibility study team in Westminster's procurement arm, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), has been investigating the logistics.

The report was due in March, but is unlikely to see daylight much before June. Insiders blame political fudging - the Treasury doesn't care enough, and the Office of the eEnvoy doesn't have the power, they say.

Whatever the reason, if the UK is to meet its target to be the most competitive place for broadband in the G8 by 2005, there is no time to waste.

The NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) is about to begin the public tendering procedure for the next generation NHSNet, the national network linking hospitals, health trusts and GPs.

For healthcare to advance at the pace it needs to, the system will have to be broadband, says the NHSIA. The electronic patient records scheme to modernise the health service will be of little use to a GP with a dial-up modem.

The NHSNet contract runs out in 2004, and its replacement will be the UK's first national broadband network. It seems an ideal candidate for aggregation and the NHSIA is keen to be involved. But with a strict deadline it can't wait for the machinations of central government policy-making.

The Government Secure Intranet linking Westminster departments is also nearing replacement. The Office of the eEnvoy, which is handling the deal, won't confirm the spec will be for a wholly broadband network, but it seems likely. Again, the deadline is 2004.

The picture may seem bleak, but while centrally-led strategy may be bogged down in Whitehall talking shops, the NHS isn't the only organisation getting on with the job.

In the education sector, government-funded Regional Broadband Consortia (RBCs) are on track for a 2Mbps connection to 20 per cent of schools by August.

The RBC for Cumbria and Lancashire has used the money to buy its own infrastructure. Cumbria and Lancashire Education Online (Cleo) can now deliver bandwidths of 10Mbps to the area's schools at a fraction of the price they would pay a commercial provider, and plans to sell excess capacity to local businesses to cut costs further.

Broadening the scheme to include the region's other public sector bodies would be aggregation in practice, regardless of the OGC.

Cleo and NHSNet are only two of many examples. So perhaps strategy delays are irrelevant after all, and broadband Britain is safe in the capable hands of those already getting on with it. All central government needs to do is not get in the way.