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Digital Britain - the big debate
In November, the government laid out its long-awaited Digital Britain proposals - aimed at making the country a competitive power in the world of technology. Among the major talking points was a plan to spread high-speed (2mb/s) internet access to all corners of the UK, at a cost of 50p per month to the taxpayer, but this suggestion has been received with a backlash.
On the back of the proposals, a cross-party panel of MPs have released a report, condemning the payment plans and, in some parts, questioning the need for government intervention at all. We at Confused.com were, well, confused about how much Britain needed a new, sparkly broadband infrastructure - so we put a few questions to someone in the know.
Henry Parker, programme manager at Intellect - the association representing all things technological in the UK - gave us his thoughts on the debate..
Q: Following the report and the impending squeeze on public finances, are you still confident the Digital Britain plans will go ahead at all? How necessary is it they do?
A: "Next Generation Access (NGA) is very important for the UK's future international competitiveness, as equality of opportunities for all citizens (including access to public services). Improving digital infrastructure is a way to improve the state of public finances, not a drain on them, as it will in the long term lead to increased opportunities, wealth generation and, therefore, tax revenue.
"We applaud the fact that there is cross party consensus on the importance of our digital infrastructure. However, Digital Britain is not the end-point in terms of a systematic approach to the evolution of the UK's digital infrastructure. It is merely the start. In future, we will be putting forward a range of views on the role for government in improving it."
Q: How significant is the 2 Mb/s level? Why is this necessary as a minimum speed?
A: "The speed is significant as it is generally acknowledged that a 2 Mb/s service is the minimum required for a consumer to access uninterrupted (or stutter free) streaming video, such as YouTube or the BBC iPlayer service.
"Consumers that only have access to speeds lower than [that] can generally not enjoy such services to the same extent as other consumers. However, it may also be the case that a consumer does not want to access streamed video, and only wants to receive e-mail or do relatively unsophisticated web browsing. Services provisioned under it should be reflective of consumer need rather than a government prediction or projection"
Q: Do you have any views on how these changes should best be funded?
A: "The universal service commitment is the and#8216;floor' for broadband speeds. It means the whole country can count on basic broadband that is pretty clearly funded by the money left over from the digital switchover fund.
"Next generation broadband is about raising the ceiling on speed and reliability. It allows room for wholly new services and uses for broadband. We know the market can reach about two in three houses around the country without help. But fast broadband shouldn't just be a service available for some. It should be an infrastructure available for all. Otherwise we have a two-speed Britain in a digital age so there's a job for the government to make sure next generation broadband reaches the villages as well as the cities.
"Provided the money needed is collected fairly, without too much red tape on any sides and is shared around fairly and effectively, then it's up to the politicians to decide where it's from."
Q: Talk Talk's Executive director of strategy, Andrew Heaney, submitted in this week's report that now is not the time to ask people to invest in "what is probably a luxury". What would you say to that?
A: "This is out of step with how people are using the internet. The same argument was made about 1st Generation Broadband at the beginning of the decade. But once it was available to consumers they started using it.
"The lesson of broadband is that if you build it they will come. Faster broadband means new jobs, new types of jobs and new ways of people communicating. Far from luxury, our economic competitors are investing in it as a necessity".
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Digital Britain - the big debate was produced by confused.com, the
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 -
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