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Billion pound question: Govt wants your views on fibre
08 Jan 2010 | 16.28 Europe/London
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has opened up a three month consultation period to gather views on how the Next Generation Fund could best be used to bring Next Generation Access to 90% of the population by 2017. Estimates suggest the fund could reach as much as a billion pounds within that period.
The BIS Department outlines the need for the Next Generation Fund, which will be made up from the 50p per month phone line tax, as helping super-fast broadband reach beyond the 60% to 70% of the country which would be served without government intervention. While it outlines half the country is, or will be, served by Virgin Media, when the proportion of the population which BT is likely to cover is added, there is still the so-called ‘ final third’ of the country without NGA.
BIS outlines that economies which do not invest in NGA will suffer from lower productivity, poorer public services (such as remote health monitoring) and entertainment services that will not keep pace with high definition audio and video technology streamed from remote sources.
Consultation scope
The consultation has tasked itself with “identifying all the issues and evidence required to inform the delivery of the Next Generation Fund”. As such it is asking the telecommunications industry to feed back input on what companies think should be done with the money and how the vision of NGA for 90% of the population by 2017 should best be delivered, and by whom.
A key part of this, BIS has suggested, will be to initially establish which areas are likely to get NGA automatically, as part of Virgin Media, BT and smaller ISPs’ natural commercial roll out of fibre. This will then help decision makers pin-point where the NGA not spots are likely to appear and help them anticipate how to bridge the looming super-fast broadband digital divide.
Although the Government has stipulated that it is technology neutral, it does concede that in the first instance it believes fixed-line, fibre solutions will probably be the most appropriate.
The consultation move has largely been welcomed by the industry. Chris Williams, telecoms partner at Deloitte believes the government is right to be concerned how it spends the proceeds of the 50p phone line tax because there is a risk that companies may over-subsidise connection costs if not closely monitored. He also believes the money needs spending wisely if we are not just going to end up building another digital divide.
“It is hoped that the launch of the £1bn Next Generation Fund (NGF) will help to bring super-fast broadband to those in rural communities and hard to reach areas. However, there are some areas of potential concern regarding some of the objectives of the NGF,” he says.
“Currently, many individuals have access to 2Mbps or more broadband, and are already using online applications and services that are designed to cater to this speed. It is thought that by the time everyone has access to 2Mbps broadband, hypothetically, many could be working off speeds of 20Mbps or more, therefore, leading us to yet another digital divide.
“Despite these issues, this initiative should play a key role in upgrading the digital infrastructure in the UK, and opening new doors of opportunities for individuals and businesses alike.”
The contact for consultation submissions is peter.mcdougall (at) bis.gsi.gov.uk
The BIS Department outlines the need for the Next Generation Fund, which will be made up from the 50p per month phone line tax, as helping super-fast broadband reach beyond the 60% to 70% of the country which would be served without government intervention. While it outlines half the country is, or will be, served by Virgin Media, when the proportion of the population which BT is likely to cover is added, there is still the so-called ‘ final third’ of the country without NGA.
BIS outlines that economies which do not invest in NGA will suffer from lower productivity, poorer public services (such as remote health monitoring) and entertainment services that will not keep pace with high definition audio and video technology streamed from remote sources.
Consultation scope
The consultation has tasked itself with “identifying all the issues and evidence required to inform the delivery of the Next Generation Fund”. As such it is asking the telecommunications industry to feed back input on what companies think should be done with the money and how the vision of NGA for 90% of the population by 2017 should best be delivered, and by whom.
A key part of this, BIS has suggested, will be to initially establish which areas are likely to get NGA automatically, as part of Virgin Media, BT and smaller ISPs’ natural commercial roll out of fibre. This will then help decision makers pin-point where the NGA not spots are likely to appear and help them anticipate how to bridge the looming super-fast broadband digital divide.
Although the Government has stipulated that it is technology neutral, it does concede that in the first instance it believes fixed-line, fibre solutions will probably be the most appropriate.
The consultation move has largely been welcomed by the industry. Chris Williams, telecoms partner at Deloitte believes the government is right to be concerned how it spends the proceeds of the 50p phone line tax because there is a risk that companies may over-subsidise connection costs if not closely monitored. He also believes the money needs spending wisely if we are not just going to end up building another digital divide.
“It is hoped that the launch of the £1bn Next Generation Fund (NGF) will help to bring super-fast broadband to those in rural communities and hard to reach areas. However, there are some areas of potential concern regarding some of the objectives of the NGF,” he says.
“Currently, many individuals have access to 2Mbps or more broadband, and are already using online applications and services that are designed to cater to this speed. It is thought that by the time everyone has access to 2Mbps broadband, hypothetically, many could be working off speeds of 20Mbps or more, therefore, leading us to yet another digital divide.
“Despite these issues, this initiative should play a key role in upgrading the digital infrastructure in the UK, and opening new doors of opportunities for individuals and businesses alike.”
The contact for consultation submissions is peter.mcdougall (at) bis.gsi.gov.uk