Convergence Conversation

In a deep global recession the last thing the world needs is a new economic shock, but that seems to be exactly what we are facing. The World Health Organisation raised its flu pandemic alert level to 5 yesterday and governments around the world are stocking up on anti-viral drugs and face masks, however, broadband could prove to be just as important in helping the UK to cope with a flu pandemic.

In what turned out to be a highly prescient piece of work, the BSG explored the role of broadband in a global pandemic in its 2008 report on the value of next generation broadband to the UK. Broadband didn’t exist when the UK was last hit by a flu pandemic but its near universal availability today could prove vital in ensuring that the economy keeps going in the event of large numbers of people falling ill. More...

In yesterday’s Budget, Alastair Darling stated government’s support for the knowledge economy and the communications sector, and set out a number of policies affecting the broadband industry. Broadly, the top-line statements were as follows.

- Government re-iterates its support for the broadband universal service commitment set out in the Digital Britain Interim Report; will consult on using Digital Switchover Help Scheme underspend to fund the policy.

- Government will review the powers and duties of Ofcom “in advance of the Digital Britain Report” so that it can “strike the right balance between delivering competition and encouraging investment”. More...

In an extraordinary announcement this morning, the Australian government have announced that they will spend up to A$43bn ($31bn, £21bn) on a new National Broadband Network, providing FTTH to 90% of Australian premises. The final 10% will be served using wireless technologies, capable of 12Mbps.

This scheme replaces the original FTTN project that the government had been developing since coming to power in late 2007. This plan, which had seen a number of bids submitted by industry, has been terminated. This was said to be partly due to the pressures brought by the global economic downturn on the value for money that Australian tax payers could achieve. More...

This blog has been removed and can now be found on my colleague Pamela Learmonth's blog

Last Thursday the BSG held a seminar with SamKnows, who were the technical partner on Ofcom’s Broadband Speeds 2008 report.

The seminar produced an interesting debate, with discussions ranging from issues of methodology and technical concerns, to the policy implications of the results generated in the report (James Enck at EuroTelcoblog has given his views on the evening).

One area that was of particular interest was the scatter graph (reproduced in the event handout) plotting line length versus average throughput speed. Although using straight line length (the straight line distance from a home to the exchange) rather than the actual line length, the level of variance in performance between lines of comparable length is pronounced. More...

Leonard Waverman, of the London Business School, recently published the Connectivity Scorecard 2009, a follow-up to a 2008 scorecard he produced.

The scorecard is one of the more comprehensive efforts to benchmark performance, given its global nature and its composite metrics that provide a more useful view of connectivity within a country. Interestingly, the US comes out on top, followed by the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, and, also interestingly, the UK.

The UK is able to rank highly because the index is based on usage and skills as well as infrastructure, with different scores and weighting for government, consumers and business. More...

Post removed - available on Pamela Learmonth's blog

Last Monday saw snow bring the majority of England to a standstill, and disrupted many businesses. But the ability to work from home remotely meant that the disruption for some was less than it otherwise might have been.

ISP PlusNet have produced data showing that the amount of VPN and other associated traffic on their network on Monday was double what it usually is, reflecting the amount of remote working taking place. While the FSB estimated that UK business lost up to £1bn in lost productivity, BT estimate that small businesses recovered £333m of that through flexible working arrangements. More...

The government’s Digital Britain Interim Report has been launched. The press release is available here, and the report itself is available here. The BSG press release responding to the launch is available here.

We have produced an initial analysis of the report in a special edition of our newsletter. We are keen to hear the views and opinions of members of the BSG community, and anyone else with an interest in the broadband value chain, on the issues raised in the report.

If you have any views you wish to share please either comment on this blog or send us an email. We will pass on all views to the government’s Digital Britain team. More...

While we wait for the publication of the government’s interim Digital Britain Report, the annual ECTA (European Competitive Telecommunications Association) Regulatory Scorecard was released yesterday, and as last year Ofcom scored the highest of all European NRAs.

Ofcom generally scored strongly in most areas. However, for economic market conditions for broadband, Ofcom ranked as ‘neutral’, rather than ’strong’. Only Portugal and France achieved a strong rating.

The scores are based on responses to surveys that review: the overall institutional environment; key enablers for market entry and network roll out; the NRA’s regulatory processes; application of regulation by the NRA; and regulatory and market outcomes. More...