Government starts on 2Mbit/s universal service commitment

Governments fills in some details of Digital Britain network infrastruture

The government has published an update on Digital Britain projects not requiring primary legislation.

The major item related to the network infrastructure which will deliver the 2Mbit/s universal service commitment (USC) to be implemented by 2012 is that the government has written to the BBC: “On the specifics of the governance of the Network Design and Procurement Group and the practicalities of the release of the first tranche of funding to progress the appointment of the Project Director and Network Design experts to develop the tender specification by the Autumn.”

The other major announcement relating to the mobile network infrastructure - called Next Generation Mobile and Spectrum Liberalisation – is that “the process of Guiding Technical Arbitration is now underway,” and will address issues around 900MHz and 800MHz radio spectrum.

The government has also today written to London Mayor Boris Johnson, “offering to work with the Mayor, Transport for London, and the mobile network operators to identify and remove any regulatory or other barriers to the deployment of mobile communications on the Underground ahead of Olympics 2012.”

There are also updates on Digital Participation, Digital Radio, next generation digital test beds, and illicit P2P file sharing.