Broadband News

We've known since before even the Digital Britain report was published that Communications Minister Lord Carter was on the way out - but what of his replacement? Now The Guardian newspaper's reporting that another Stephen - Stephen Timms - will be taking over his job and charged with keeping the Digital Britain bandwagon moving. Anyone for Timms?

Stephen Timms is currently a Treasury minister - the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, to be exact - as well as being Labour's vice-chair for faith groups on the side. But prior to that he was an e-commerce minister and, until Labour won power in 1997, he advised his party's information society policy forum. And before he got into parliament in 1994, he managed telecommunications reports for tech analyst group Ovum; he's also worked for Logica.

Though his curriculum vitae might be in order, what do we know about the views held by the man who cold be tasked with pushing the £6-a-year broadband levy on all phone lines through parliament and delivering a Digital Economy bill this autumn? Well history's kept a couple of little quotes from his time as e-commerce minister that suggest - while he did come out with them way back in 2002 (and times sure have changed) - his agenda may not match entirely with the one Lord Carter has been promoting:-

I think it's important that people don't look to government money as the way forward. We can look to the normal commercial process to deliver broadband to people. It is government's responsibility to help the market, and to keep an eye on what's going on, but it's not going to be government money that pays for the infrastructure.

I think the definition of a universal service is something that needs to be kept under review, but I don't think there's a case at the moment for adding broadband to the list. The danger with going down that road is that you create a kind of dead end that would actually hold up progress rather than enhancing it.

In the context of a Digital Britain report where what's been called a £6-a-year broadband "tax" and a 2Mbit/s universal service "commitment" were the headline features, Timms' words in that 2002 ZDNet interview are certainly food for thought. (If you're interested, you can get a wider view of his politics here.)

Since the blueprint for the UK's digital future was published, the engines behind its implementation seem to have stalled. An independent body was supposed to have been set up last month to oversee the realisation of Digital Britain's 2012 broadband targets - but now that won't even have a chief executive until October. If he is appointed, it'll be up to Timms - who'd work across the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Treasury in the new role - the kick-start the Digital Britain bandwagon and get things back on track.

Further details at [The Guardian]