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The Digital Economy Bill has received significant criticism from service providers and users alike with ISP TalkTalk being one of the most vocal. This morning, the Financial Times has published a letter which argues that the plans to suspend Internet access for those who illegally download content are unfair.
The letter specifically targets criticism at the amendment passed last week in the House of Lords with the backing of the Liberal Democrat and Conservative peers. Internet Service Providers had already raise concerns about provisions requiring them to block access to certain sites pursuant to court orders.
"blocking access as envisaged by this clause would both widely disrupt the internet in the UK and elsewhere and threaten freedom of speech and the open internet, without reducing copyright infringement as intended. To rush through such a controversial proposal at the tail end of a parliament, without any kind of consultation with consumers or industry, is very poor lawmaking."
Letter to the Financial Times
The letter was signed on behalf of Orange, Facebook, Virgin Media, Google UK & Ireland, TalkTalk, ISPA UK, Consumer Focus, Open Rights Group, eBay UK, BT Group, Yahoo! UK & Ireland, Shooting People independent film makers, as well as academics from the University of Leicester, Queen Mary (University of London) and finally Tom Watson MP and Stephen Fry.
The BBC also reports that Chief Executive of BT Ian Livingstone has called for fines instead of disconnections which an individual could decide to defend in court if necessary.
BT have called for equality of access following its recent announcement that it plans to open up its network of cabling ducts to competitors. The company will put pressure on Ofcom and ministers to gain access to Virgin Media's ducts which would allow it to expand its network.
"It is remarkable that those calling for open access from BT are not willing to provide it themselves. We call on others to follow BT's lead in offering to open its infrastructure and content to all on a fair basis.
Competition is a two-way street. We support Jeremy Hunt's [Shadow Secretary of State for Media] call for open access to all networks and call for others to follow our example and to open their infrastructure and services."
BT Spokesman talking to The Time
BT already cover the same areas on the access network that Virgin have deployed their cable network, but BT still rely on overhead cable access via poles in some areas. With access to Virgin's ducts, this could allow them to deploy fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) services through these without having to rely on overhead cabling which can be more easily affected by adverse weather conditions, and couple be more costly to install.
Ofcom is expected to look through the issue of duct access in the Spring which will hopefully bring some definitive expectations of what providers will have to do. The logical solution would be to create an open access system for ducts controlled centrally which would hopefully help reduce the amount of people digging up the roads to deploy new networks where competitors ducting sits idly by. It does create some issues of resilience, however, where using different providers can at the moment often protect you from the 'digger through a cable' problem.
While not everyone wants to use, or some may feel they are forced into using the Internet, a survey for the BBC by Globespan has revealed that 87% of Internet users feel access should be a 'fundemental right for all people'.
The survey covered some 26 countries and involved 27,000 adults. In some cases the response is as you would expect, e.g. South Korea, where the 87% figure rose to 96%. Some countries, one would not normally expect, such as Mexico, Brazil and Turkey most strongly support people having a right to Internet access.
"The right to communicate cannot be ignored,...
The internet is the most powerful potential source of enlightenment ever created. ... regard the internet as basic infrastructure - just like roads, waste and water. We have entered the knowledge society and everyone must have access to participate."Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
The problem many nations face now is meeting this demand for Internet access, the freedom of access to information can often also go against traditional control based power structures. Among UK respondents some 55% believed there was a case for the government to be involved in some regulation, the problem for policy makers and the populace at large is how much control is just right.
One rapidly changing area is the influence that large companies can now have on government policy particularly as the commercial aspects of the Internet mature. Through lobbying, there is the danger that a firm may be able to fight and maintain a commercial status quo, but as history shows while a company can fight off change investing in old products, eventually the market will move on and shatter the status quo. The firms that adapt and change are most likely to continue.
A number of organisations including the Country Land and Business Association have launched a campaign called Final Third First with the aim of lobbying government on behalf of those living in what is commonly referred to as the 'final third' of the UK.
The Digital Britain Report earlier this year coined the term 'final third' to describe the areas within the UK where a purely market-lead approach was unlikely to deliver the next generation broadband services which we already see in many of the more populated areas. The government announced its intention to intervene by way of establishing a next generation fund which would be paid for by a 50 pence a month levy on fixed telephone lines, the so called 'broadband tax'.
Earlier this week, the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills announced the establishment of the organisation Broadband Delivery UK which would be responsible both for delivering the Universal Service Commitment of 2Mbps by 2012 as well as next-generation services by 2017. The campaign's first action is to push for "faster action" on the promises made by the government.
"The Government's universal service commitment to provide broadband speeds of two megabits per second (Mbps) for all by 2012 will be hard to achieve. Those living in areas known as the Final Third still receive no proper access to broadband, putting them at a severe disadvantage. This campaign calls for faster action on the progress already made so that everyone can benefit from the Government's increasing array of online services."
Dr Charles Trotman, Head of Rural Business Development, CLA
"Public sector websites now take good access for granted. They should revert to dial-up for a month and watch their children flounder in with coursework, their businesses stagger, and their tax, social services and DVLA transactions revert to Royal Mail. That is the issue not 50 miles from Westminster. E-government is a good policy but its deployment is socially flawed."
Neil Blake, Ewelme Parish Council, Oxfordshire
Vtesse Networks, recently in the news when it lost its appeal over fibre taxes also supports the campaign. It will be deploying a new network in Birch Green, Bramfield, Hertingfordbury and Stapleford in Hertfordshire, to demonstrate that it is viable to deliver next generation broadband services in these rural areas. The services are expected to be available in late spring and early summer.
The results both from this trial and other areas already served by Vtesse will help it support applications for grants from Broadband Delivery UK both for delivering the Universal Service Commitment in the next two years as well as the next generation fund. We hope that in assessing the funding requirements for the 2012 target, the organisation will consider the benefits of a future-proof solution to ensure public money is spent wisely.
Those interested in being considered for the Vtesse pilot in Hertfordshire should e-mail hertfordshire@vtesse.com for more details and to register their interest.
Many people complain about slow broadband, but with the Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) roll-out requiring new street cabinets in addition to the existing ones, the issue of street clutter is surfacing more and more. St Albans seems to be the latest area to have problems with locating the new cabinets - The Herts Advertiser 24 has more detail on what is happening.
There is a duality to this as many people are clamouring for better/faster broadband, but to improve the communications infrastructure in the UK requires work being carried in our streets. The old green telephone cabinets have been in the same location for so many years, that many are now receding into the background, the new Openreach cabinets are alas larger and with new paint will be very obvious, and the last few years has seen a rise in people complaining about street clutter.
Openreach in theory has three options for the FTTC cabinets, but is favouring the larger cabinet, probably because it gives better capacity for expansion in the future. Smaller options such as a box mounted on top of an old cabinet, or a sleeve going over an existing cabinet are possible, but these are probably only envisaged for cabinets which serve a smaller number of lines. Even where fibre to the home is being installed using the sewers, there is still the need for a small trench crossing a property to get the fibre into the building.
The issue of conservation areas will also impact on FTTC coverage, as it did in Muswell Hill, St Albans and other places. BT has code powers that means outside conservation areas they do not need planning permission. The problem is that the ideal location may be in the conservation area but many of the properties are outside it. More expensive solutions of course are possible, such as waterproofing hardware so that it can be located underground, but this makes general maintenance more expensive.
The Broadband Universal Service Commitment (USC) has been a part of the UK broadband landscape since July 2009, but until now it has consisted of various Government papers, and speeches by Ministers. The news that a group named Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) is set to start its work on the USC is welcome news, as it means that there is a chance of meeting the target of 2Meg for all by 2012.
The press release tells us very little about who is part of the group, and does not reveal any web presence so that people can see what they are getting up to. We would presume that this will change very quickly, with the developments both positive and negative being open and visible to all.
The BDUK has two roles:
"Taking advantage of new technologies like next generation broadband is vital to the growth of the UK’s economy and it’s important that all homes and businesses can access the opportunities faster speeds bring.
This report makes clear that without public intervention, some rural areas and less well off communities will be left behind and unable to reap the economic, health and education benefits superfast broadband offers. Our proposed £1billion Next Generation Fund will help bring the benefits of super fast broadband to more communities.
We do not want to risk the digital gap widening, which is why we have put a team of experts in place to ensure further investment is targeted at those people without adequate access."
Stephen Timms, Minister for Digital Britain
The next few weeks are crucial to how the BDUK and the USC are perceived. There remains uncertainty as to what 2Mbps means in technical terms; a general suspicion is that this is being kept vague so that a variety of technical solutions can be deployed, including satellite access, fixed wireless, mobile and landline based solutions. The USC as it stands could be met, by simply handing out vouchers that give subsidised satellite access for all those that ask for it. Also a lot of the general public may already have connections of 3 or 4Mbps but are not able to actually run all the applications the USC is setting to address due to contention/congestion issues. Whether the USC will address and force providers into ensuring a baseline of services is possible at peak times is something that needs to be clarified urgently.
The timescale for the USC is certainly short, particularly if the normal timescales of research and tendering for contracts are undertaken. The forthcoming General Election should not impede the USC too much, as this part of the Digital Britain Report has widespread backing. The Next Generation Fund is another matter, with the Conservatives keen to leave it to market forces and only act if the free market is seen to be stalling.
At thinkbroadband, when we talk about 'next generation broadband', we generally refer to services faster than 25Mbps (downstream), but since this has not being defined by the Government we might find that ADSL2+ with a maximum speed of 24Mbps being deployed. Given the way some broadband providers push ADSL2+ as being Next Generation, a definition would be very welcome. ADSL2+ has been available in parts of the UK since 2005. Even we should consider this definition carefully given Virgin Media's plans to launch 100Mbps broadband connections by the end of the year across its network.
Amendment 120A to the Digital Economy Bill was voted through the House of Lords yesterday that could force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block websites that are deemed to contain content that infringes copyright. Whilst this in itself isn't anything new (section 97A of the Copyright Act allows the same thing), 120A breaks the balance that currently exists under 97A between rightsowners and service providers, and shifts the bias in the favour of the former, which may scare ISPs in to having to act to avoid court action.
ISPA, a trade body for UK ISPs, is outraged that the amendment was voted through, and deem that this is negligent as the legal, technical and practical issues have not been debated in enough detail.
"ISPA has been supportive of Peers' excellent scrutiny of the Bill to date. However, in this instance, our members are extremely concerned that the full implications of the amendment have not been understood and that the reasoning behind the amendment is wholly misguided. We would therefore urge the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to urgently reconsider their position."
Nicholas Lansman, (Secretary-General) ISPA
Concern is raised over the far reaching affects of this amendment which could lead to websites such as YouTube being blocked as they may contain videos including copyrighted material, although these kinds of sites wouldn't be the intended target.
"The intention is also for the injunction to only be possible for sites where there is a substantial proportion of infringing material that is either hosted by that particular site or is accessed through the particular site in question.
The injunction will only be granted where copyright owners had first requested ISP’s to block access to the site and where they had also requested the site operator to stop providing access to the infringing material (either by removing the material itself or removing the ability to access the material).
There already exists a remedy under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (section 97A) which grants copyright owners a broad power to apply to the Court for an injunction. Therefore, all amendment 120A does is enhance this power by giving copyright owners a more clearly defined route."
Lord Clement-Jones
Full details of the amendment can be read on the Open Rights Group blog
The European Commission yesterday launched a consultation looking at the future of universal service in the digital market. The current EU Directive on universal service states that basic Internet access must be provided but that it should be "sufficient to permit functional Internet access" which effectively equates to a dial-up modem connection. With the advent of broadband and the technology boost which has come with it, this universal service obligation (USO) is quite outdated.
Fixed broadband coverage is by no means ubiquitous and plans to increase this will go a long way to provide an equality of service to people across Europe. In the UK, BT coverage is claimed at over 99% which would probably equate to around 600,000 people who can't access it. Across Europe, the numbers are lower with 93% of Europeans at the end of 2008 able to get broadband, but in rural areas this falls to about 77%. The other main point of a USO is what speed to set for a universal service. 2Mbps, the speed chosen by the UK government, gets a mention as something that over 80% of Europeans can currently get, and therefore may be a target which they are pushing toward.
Question 1: In today's competitive environment, can the market be relied on to meet demand for basic e-communications services from all sections of society, thereby ensuring social inclusiveness?
Question 2: If not, what is the best policy to allow disabled consumers, those on low incomes and those living in geographically remote or isolated areas to access and use basic e-communications services?
Question 3: Broadband for all is a widely-stated policy objective at national and European level. What role if any should universal service play in meeting this objective?
Question 4: What impacts could an extension of the role of universal service to advance broadband development have in relation to other EU and national policies and measures to achieve full broadband coverage in the EU? What other impacts would be likely to arise regarding competition, the single market, competitiveness, investment, innovation, employment and the environment?
Question 5: If universal service obligations should prove necessary to achieve the policy objective of broadband for all, at what level (EU or national) should such obligations be defined, taking into account the different levels of market development across the current Union of 27 Member States?
Question 6: If a common harmonised universal service needs to be defined at EU level, should a mechanism be put in place to balance the need for national flexibility and a coherent and coordinated approach in the EU?
Question 7: Irrespective of the scope of universal service, are mechanisms whereby funding is provided by the sector appropriate in the context of a regulatory environment that seeks to eliminate distortions of competition and promote market entry?
Question 8: In the context of the roll-out of broadband in Europe, is it still appropriate to limit the financial arrangements of universal service to market players in the e-communications sector, while this provision would have wide-ranging benefits outside the sector, for instance, the delivery of information society services and digital content? Are other means of financing more appropriate?
Questions posed by EU Consultation on USO
The questions suggest that there may be flexibility in the roll out of a USO, allowing some leeway for national implementations. Equally, there could however be a USO introduced pan-Europe which encourages faster services, and may throw a spanner in the works of the current government plans to introduce a 2Mbps broadband USC by 2012. One point of major importance is that the EU is looking at obligation rather than the weaker commitment that work should have started on in the UK by now.
Approval has been granted for the merger of T-Mobile and Orange in the UK by the EU. The approval was conditional on an amendment to the network sharing agreement between T-Mobile and Three as the EU were concerned that the merger could threaten the viability of Three, the smallest mobile network operator in the UK.
The other concession was that the combined network would have to give up 25% of its mobile spectrum within the 1800MHz band. Without doing so, the 60MHz contiguous spectrum held would be significantly larger than any of the other networks giving it the ability to run LTE, the next generation of mobile broadband services, at the best possible speeds within the current spectrum.
In light of these concessions, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have withdrawn their request to review the case, giving a green light for the merger to go ahead. This will create the UK's largest mobile network with a market share of around 37%.
Friday saw Telefónica Europe, better known under their O2 branding, release their financial results for year ending 31st December 2009. Telefónica Europe run mobile phone businesses in the UK, Germany, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia with fixed line services also available such as broadband from both O2 and BE in the UK.
The UK operations of O2 saw a 5.1% increase year-on-year of its mobile customer base, reaching 21.3 million lines, a net addition of around 1 million users. Traffic grew by 15.6% over the period with a total of 53,856 million minutes. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for voice calls decreased 8.7% year-on-year (10.5% in the 4th quarter) which was largely due to mobile termination rate cuts and the adoption of unlimited tariffs. Data revenue did increase by 3.7% however.
Fixed line broadband services which come under both the O2 and BE brands added 250,648 lines in 2009, a 73.5% year-on-year increase. Total broadband customers at the end of December totalled 591,514, so should now be well in to the 600,000's. 64,388 of these lines were added in Q4 2009, and this year is expected to show continued growth with "O2 Home Phone" launching in Spring which will compliment the fixed-broadband offering with a competitive voice package.
"In the United Kingdom, Telefónica O2 UK defied a shrinking market, reporting strong financial results and gaining share in 2009 through a consistent approach to our core mobile business while expanding into new areas. This positive evolution was mainly due to our unwavering commitment to putting our customers at the heart of everything we do - reflected in our industry-leading rates of churn. Increased commercial activity on a wide range of devices, with a particular focus on smartphones, was also a significant driver of growth in the year. In 2009 we sold our two millionth iPhone in the UK, which continues to sell extremely well along with our wide range of other smartphones. Data revenues increased 52 per cent year-on-year in local currency, with the strong contribution from mobile internet user growth. Our total mobile customer base was up 5.1 per cent to 21.3 million (excluding Tesco Mobile) at the end of December. The contract segment continues to drive growth, with 1.1 million additional customers in 2009, and it now makes up nearly half of our total customer base."
Matthew Key, (CEO) Telefónica Europe
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