UK: Promise of universal broadband web access (Draft report: Guaranteed to every household)

The Financial Times / various ^ | January 15, 2009 | Andrew Parker and Ben Fenton

[Stoat]

Every household in the country will be guaranteed access to broadband internet, according to a draft report by Lord Carter on the future of the telecoms and media industries.

Lord Carter, the communications minister, will propose a "universal service commitment" to broadband - akin to the guarantee offered on postal services and fixed-line telephones - that by 2012 would provide minimum download speeds of 2 megabits per second to every household that wants it, according to people who have seen a draft of his report, entitled Digital Britain. Such speeds enable people to watch video online, including the BBC iPlayer.

The government sees the -communications sector as a growth industry for the country that can help boost the economy and ease its reliance on financial services.

The proposal for universal broadband access is expected to be the centrepiece of a report due for publication this month. About 40 per cent of homes did not have broadband by last year, according to Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, and some households - especially in remote areas - lacked the necessary infrastructure to secure it.

Yesterday, Lord Carter - the former head of Ofcom - told a meeting at Westminster that broadband was no longer seen as a "niche service for the technologically keen". "It is an enabling and transformatory service and therefore we have to look at how we universalise it," he added.

(edit)

The Department for Culture and the Department for Business said the report was "still at the very early stages of drafting".

[Stoat]

My apologies for the severe editing of this article....this was done in order to remain in compliance with Free Republic rules pertaining to the posting of articles from The Financial Times.  Please click on the main article link to read the full story.

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Related:

Guaranteed broadband for every UK home - The Inquirer

The report, which is currently "at the very early stages of drafting" will eventually be put forward by communications minister Lord Carter, and will guarantee broadband coverage with minimum download speeds of 2 magabits per second to every household that wants it.

(edit)

Rural areas which currently have no access to wired broadband would have use wireless data services which could end the bickering between comms regulator Ofcom and mobile service providers over the allocartion of radio frequencies.

The government has made it clear that if the two bodies don't start playing nicely, it will "impose a solution".

Public Service - Every house to have fast broadband

Broadband for all to be funded by the industry Technology The Guardian

Broadband to become a universal service obligation 15 Jan 2009 ComputerWeekly.com

[Stoat]

[TheZMan]

Ya know, I wish I could spend money I didn’t have indefinitely on stuff I didn’t need.

[Red Badger]

Is this “free” broadband access?............

[Smokin' Joe]

Watch, Montague, as they hunt you down...

(/obscure Fahrenheit 451 reference)

[Red Badger]

Yeah, now if it were free universal access to broads, that would be worthwhile!..............

[ShadowAce]

[Stoat]

UK Parliament

Member Profile

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Lord Carter of Barnes

CARTER OF BARNES (Life Baron), Stephen Andrew Carter; cr 2008

	Responsibilities
		BERR: (Jointly with DCMS) Communications and content industries; Electronics and IT services; Creative industries; Better Regulation Executive, including regulatory budgets; Better regulation within BERR DCMS: Broadcasting policy; Digital switchover; Digital Britain report; DCMS spokesperson in Lords
	Name, style and title
		Raised to the peerage as Baron Carter of Barnes, of Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 2008
	Lords career
		Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Government Spokesperson: Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting) 2008-, Department for Culture, Media and Sport 2008-
	House of Lords
		The Lord Carter of Barnes CBE House of Lords London SW1A 0PW Tel: 020 7219 5353

Lord Carter drops 'broadband for all' hint ahead of Digital Britain report Media guardian.co.uk

Lord Carter: 'We have to ensure that fairness and access for all is more than a soundbite.'

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Just watch. The UK gov will find a way to charge each home for the # of computers......just like they do with the ‘TV License’.

[Stoat]

Is this “free” broadband access?............

The initial report, which is due out next month, is expected to suggest that the Government should be involved in funding the rollout of any universal public broadband network.

'Broadband for every household in Britain' promises Government minister Mail Online

From early reports it appears that the services will still require a fee but it seems that those fees may be dramatically increased for all as a result of this forced rollout.

The end user as well as non-users always end up paying for everything in one way or another, particularly these 'universal access' ideas.

[Red Badger]

If it goes the same as “universal healthcare”, nobody will be able to use it AT ALL!.............

[Mercia]

Its an excellent idea, but as others have already said on this thread, are we going to be forced into using this service before any other. In other words, much like the TV license, are we going to be required to have a broadband license too?

The answer for this incompitent, power hungry, 1984, brown-paper-bag bunch of jokers is a resounding YES!

If you just assume that the Labour government never, ever, does things for the benefit of its own people, but for personal and monitary gain only; you wont be far wrong.

Bring on the next elections. Labour are going to bet absolutely trounced by the Conservatives.

[Stoat]

It certainly would be nice to be able to live anywhere in Britain and have broadband available, but the unrepentant free-market Capitalist in me has grave concerns as to the method of implementation in this case. Rather than have internet providers be forced by Governmental fiat into incredibly expensive infrastructure and personnel upgrades in areas where there may be little or no market in evidence, I would have preferred that Government instead eliminate as many impediments to free-market expansion as possible and allow the providers to upgrade their services as dictated by consumer demand and market competition.

Whenever Government dictates that private industry expand into unprofitable areas, industry has no choice but to comply and the added costs will inevitably be shouldered by the end users, and I am rather doubtful that British internet users will be particularly grateful to know that their internet bill has just increased substantially in order for broadband to be available to a couple of remote homes in outlying regions whose owners may not have particularly cared about broadband to begin with.

I do agree that efforts like this will be a boon to Conservatives, providing they take full advantage of the different approaches that they provide and educate the public accordingly, a task which Conservatives the world over have been having difficulty with for quite some time. I think, however, that in Britain the Cancers of Labour are so obvious to anyone but the most hardened Leftist ideologue that the next major elections are in Conservatives’ favor at the outset and is theirs to lose.