New body aims to make Digital Britain vision a reality

Can BDUK achieve universal service commitment?

The government organisation charged with implementing the universal service commitment (USC) and next generation fibre networks proposed in Lord Carter's Digital Britain report was unveiled today.

The launch of Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) coincided with the publication of a report entitled An Assessment and Practical Guidance on Next Generation Access (NGA) Risk in the UK.

The report aims to inform public authorities about how best to invest in superfast broadband.

Despite these initiatives, Community Broadband Network chief executive Malcolm Corbett said that there are still areas of the country where the USC of 2Mbit/s will be very difficult to achieve.

"These areas make up 11 per cent of the country and will require £800m to fix," he said. "The £200m the government will receive from the BBC Digital switchover fund, combined with the £150m raised via the landline levy, simply wouldn't be enough.

"The government will have to raise money by other means, perhaps by getting the private sector and the communities themselves involved. With them on board, you have a fighting chance of achieving universal access," said Corbett.

"We've entered into a dialogue with the government to share knowledge which can make public sector funds go an lot further. It's important to look for solutions outside those simply offered by BT," he added.

The report examines three different ways of extending the reach of broadband in the UK: a purely market-led approach; one in which the NGA is subsidised by the Digital Britain ‘Next Generation Fund’; and finally the effect of local bodies such as regional development agencies supplementing a subsidised network - an example of this in pratice is that of the Yorkshire Forward Digital Region initiative in South Yorkshire.

Rural Affairs Minister Dan Norris said: “The research published today will help public bodies and BDUK identify what areas need attention so that solutions can be developed for these communities to benefit from faster broadband services."