Convergence Conversation

A few months back, the prospect of policy focus falling on net neutrality in the UK provoked some apprehension.  The issue had failed to provoke the intensity of debate seen in other markets such as the U.S. and there was a sense from some that this was an “American disease we didn’t want to catch”.

Fast forward a couple of months with the publication of both the Ofcom discussion paper and the European Commission questionnaire and one could be forgiven for asking, what was all the fuss about?

Initial and public industry reaction to the Ofcom paper was largely “this looks about right” and with no sign of any immediate action likely to take place by way of mechanisms such as the imposition of a minimum quality of service requirement by Ofcom, perhaps there was nothing to be worried about after all. More...

Today the BSG has published a new White Paper with Value Partners, Broadband Infrastructure: The Service and Application Providers’ View. Looking at the views of the broadband infrastructure from those who provide services over the internet today, the report find 3 main conclusions: - Few respondents considered current broadband as a significant barrier to innovation today. Instead they suggested that it was just one of a series of end to end issues that needed to be considered when thinking about how to improve services for consumers. Few believed that simply addressing the bandwidth issue alone would be enough to deliver the quality of service that consumers are increasingly expected to demand. More...

Somewhat behind original timelines, the government has today given further indication of how it will proceed with implementing the Audiovisual Media Services Directive into UK law. Today has seen the publication of a press release, Ministerial Statement from Andy Burnham, and a document giving an overview of responses to the original consultation. An initial glance (so forgive me if a more detailed read thows up further information) shows that whilst the main thrust of the government approach is made clear, there is still a long way to go on the detail. Today's documents state that the government wishes to apply the Directive only to those "mass media services whose principal purpose is to provide television programming to the public on demand." The scope of services that will be captured by the Directive has been one of ongoing concern and where clarity is urgently required - as stated strongly in the BSG's response to the AVMS consultation More...

Somewhat behind original timelines, the government has today given further indication of how it will proceed with implementing the Audiovisual Media Services Directive into UK law.

Today has seen the publication of a press release, Ministerial Statement from Andy Burnham, and a document giving an overview of responses to the original consultation.

An initial glance (so forgive me if a more detailed read thows up further information) shows that whilst the main thrust of the government approach is made clear, there is still a long way to go on the detail.

Today's documents state that the government wishes to apply the Directive only to those "mass media services whose principal purpose is to provide television programming to the public on demand."

The scope of services that will be captured by the Directive has been one of ongoing concern and where clarity is urgently required - as stated strongly in the BS

More...

The Government’s Digital Britain report rightly devotes a chapter to how you can “equip everyone to benefit” from the digital future. Whilst much of the commentary around the report has focused on infrastructure, broadband speeds and protection of copyright online, the important issue of how to drive take-up has been somewhat overlooked. Such an oversight would be dangerous. Without widespread take-up of broadband and the services which run over it, growth scenarios for the sector and the economy more widely will suffer. Without tackling the various and often complicated reasons for people choosing not to get “online”, there is also the risk that a significant section of the population miss out on the opportunities that the digital future offers them. More...

The Government’s Digital Britain report rightly devotes a chapter to how you can “equip everyone to benefit” from the digital future.

Whilst much of the commentary around the report has focused on infrastructure, broadband speeds and protection of copyright online, the important issue of how to drive take-up has been somewhat overlooked.

Such an oversight would be dangerous. 

Without widespread take-up of broadband and the services which run over it, growth scenarios for the sector and the economy more widely will suffer. 

Without tackling the various and often complicated reasons for people choosing not to get “online”, there is also the risk that a significant section of the population miss out on the opportunities that the digital future offers them. 

Not an outcome that anyone would seek. More...

Virgin Media's statement today that it could be offering broadband speeds of 200Mbps by 2012 certainly puts the cats amongst the pidgeons in the ever noisier debate surrounding next generation broadband.

 

Last month, BT announced that it would invest £1.5bn to bring next generation broadband to 10 million homes by 2012.  The speeds that would be available were quoted in BT's release as 40Mbps to 60 Mbps for those homes serviced by a Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) deployment.  Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) could, it said, offer speeds up to 100Mbps. More...