Lukewarm response to Digital Britain report

The Government needs to play its part

"The UK cannot remain a world leader in terms of economic output and services without investment in communications infrastructure. It is certainly welcome news that Lord Carter may re-consider its position and play a financial role in the roll out of the next generation network. The Government needs to play its part - next to education and healthcare investment - there can't be many other more important projects than ensuring the UK's population has broadband connection and best position the country for competing in the global economy.

The next generation network is not just about saving on call costs with VoIP. It will help the business community to continue to thrive with the provision of more secure and intelligent bandwidth that enables applications like video on demand, energy consumption monitoring, IPTV, VoWiFi and innovative medical devices.

We all agree that having world leading communications infrastructure is a must for UK plc. Not only does the business community need an educated workforce and a safe environment, it also requires the flexibility for truly mobile working that can be highly productive and generate profits anytime and anywhere. The need for high speed broadband for home workers - heavy users of web services and VoIP phone systems - is also growing. The shift towards storing and managing information online, in the cloud is also adding pressure.

One answer could be a Government backed infrastructure fund to provide project finance to next generation developments. Central Government funding could be given to local authorities to encourage fibre to the home schemes - even though this could raise issues with the existing incumbents providing broadband in the local area. Government investment could also take the form of giving tax incentives or grant schemes to developers of major green or brownfield sites to ensure the provision of fibre to the home. There is also the question of whether the Government should be responsible for putting in place the core backbone network in the UK? This could be a difficult and laborious task so it may be easier for the Government to ensure that funding is available to help support new schemes that were previously too costly to pursue. Investment in better broadband services is a vital step towards ensuring that the benefits of all of our bandwidth hungry activities can be gained, and most importantly that the UK can remain economically competitive."

Posted by: Martin Balaam, CEO, Redstone plc  03 Feb 2009

Copper will play a significant part in Digital Britain

The Internet is arguably the UK's most important modern infrastructure. Homes and businesses across the UK rely on their Internet connections everyday, so any measures to bring the technology to as many people as possible is a good thing.

The question remains as to how the UK's broadband should be delivered; through the existing copper phone network (DSL), fibre optics or wireless? Many argue that fibre is the only solution, resulting in copper being committed to the scrap heap prematurely. But fibre, having been around since the 1970s, is hardly a new technology either. If the government wants to commit to broadband in every home, then the phone lines that run into almost every house in the country offer a ready-made solution. Copper based connections can easily exceed the 2Mbps speeds that Lord Carter's report calls for, and recent innovations have reached speeds of 40Mbps. This is more than enough for most homes and business today.

Posted by: Chris Stening, MD, Easynet Connect  30 Jan 2009