Lord Carter speaks out about universal broadband
Monday 15 June 2009 13:37:25 by Andrew Ferguson

It is not clear whether the general public has the same degree of anticipation with respect to the Digital Britain report as does the broadband, media and music industries, or whether apathy has already set in.

BroadcastNow.co.uk has interviewed Lord Carter, minister for communications, technology & broadcasting and covered four main areas: Broadband, Online Piracy, BBC Worldwide/Channel 4 and Local News, which are all available as streamed video. With respect to broadband and the universal service commitment Stephen Carter had the following to say, there is more in the four minute video.

"As a base building block we think there needs to an establishment of universality, the identification of who doesn't have it and the funding and design program to infil those not-spots and not-a-lot-spots, but to to be clear we have never said that a base level of broadband connectivity is the ceiling of our ambitions it's the first stage building block."

Lord Carter on Broadband USO

So looking at what has been said, perhaps we need to brace ourselves for a lower than 2Mbps figure as part of the first round of universality, and hope that the methods chosen to meet a new USO will either bring speeds beyond that as a by-product, or that the USO will be reviewed frequently. A mid-range figure of perhaps 1Mbps could be met by adding some extra 3G towers, Openreach improving the copper network in a few areas, and satellite subsidies to the truly remote properties/businesses.

The UK has consistently hit the target with innovation on technology but has very often messed up the implementation phase, with other countries forging on ahead. If the UK truly wants to be centre stage in the world-wide digital economy, we must do much more than meet the bare minimum target wise.